That Time of Year

DPI has announced that 171 schools have applied to be a part of Milwaukee's voucher program next year. That's more that the 154 applicants last year, and way more than the 117 choice schools open last September. (Last September is a distinction that will be important in a moment.)

One disturbing element in this whole thing--and there are so many to choose from--is this: "The new batch of applicants includes some established schools that have decided to join the program--for example, Milwaukee Lutheran High School--but many are start-ups." One of the arguments that I make regularly about the choice system as it exists here in Milwaukee is that it establishes very appealing incentives for anyone with a few friends and an occupancy permit to set up a "school" and start collecting tax dollars. (I have the highest respect for Milwaukee Lutheran--and there are many other schools, the majority, in fact, that do good work.)

How can this be? you might ask, especially those of you not from Wisconsin. Well, the answer is simple: Our Legislature, in its Infinite Wisdom (or, perhaps, blinded by its Sheer Idiocy) refuses to establish even a single academic standard that these choice schools must meet. Not. A. Single. One.

The only mechanism in place to make sure our taxpayer money is spent well is that a school must have a sound business plan. Does it matter what they plan to teach the kids? Goodness, no, we shouldn't interfere in that. But we have to make sure they'll stay afloat!

And, remember, these restrictions only came into place a year ago--after more than a dozen years of choice in Milwaukee. And these rules only came about because of massive fraud going on at some of these fly-by-night schools. You might think that problems like the ones described in the link at Mandela school would automatically be solved by the market. You know, parents would pull their kids out and the school was closed. Not so. As I wrote last spring:

The sad case of Alex's Academics of Excellency (yes, that's its real name) is instructive. This is a school that was ordered closed by Milwaukee's building inspectors in 1999, back when it was just Alex's Academic of Excellence. After moving repeatedly during the 1999-2000 school year, that summer the school's CEO (a convicted violent rapist) was jailed for tax fraud in an unrelated case. This was around the same time a private voucher program was refusing to send students to the school because it did not meet their academic standards. By the fall of 2003, the school was still open (now known as Alex's Acadmics of Excellence) and getting my taxpayer money while staff got stoned and drunk instead of teaching the children, and the state had to explain how its hands were tied.

This market approach to education is just plain stupid. It's like, stupid-and-a-half. Continuing on in that post from last spring:

The solution is clearly not the market--and what we're really talking about here is a free (or at least free-er) market for education. In any market, there are winners and there are losers. But we're not talking about losers like New Coke or Daewoo here--we're talking about children. Do we really, really want to say that the market, which guarantees losers among the winners, is the best way to educate our children?

This is doubly important based on the second thing that disturbs me about DPI's new list: "The list includes at least one person who was a key figure in a large voucher school recently closed by DPI order. Ricardo Brooks, who was an administrator of Academic Solutions, is listed as the administrator of a proposed school to be called Northside High School." Why does this matter? Because Academic Solutions is this year's poster child for failing choice schools.

I know this not just because of what I read, but because of what my students tell me--my students who have come to my school after Academic solutions closed following what can only be described as a riot. And they verify--and elaborate on--all the things I have read. Things like how the teachers stopped coming in to work after they stopped getting paid in November. Or things like absolute fraud in reporting the number students they should get paid for, so bad they called in the D.A.. Or things like this: "One parent, L* S*, said her daughter, T*, 16, had been doing well at the school, where she enrolled as a sophomore this year. She said her daughter had been getting F's at Milwaukee Marshall High School but was getting nearly straight A's at Academic Solutions." The curriculum of that school--confirmed for me by former students and by Milwaukee police officers who were there--was videos. Why not? The teachers aren't there. So the girl got an A for watching videos. Do you think that she really was getting the education she missed at the other school?

Ricardo Brooks, the guy from Academic Solutions who is looking to open a new school, said at the time of their appeal to stay open, "The school will be safe. [. . .] We don't have a bad school. We have a great school." This guy must have been blind to what was going on under his nose--serious fights every day. And now he wants to try again? Give me a break!

Any expansion of the voucher program will only lead to more of this. And this should serve as a warning to anyone in other states considering "choice." Let them look at Milwaukee: It is not what I would choose.

Where's My Hat?

I may need to throw it into the ring against Kohl. The gazillionaire senator voted for the final bankruptcy bill. Not that I think I could win, but, dammit, this is just bad law.

Russ Blogs!

Here!

Owen's At It, Again

I've been giving Owen a free ride lately, what with my being on hiatus, and stuff. That ends today.

Today Owen's off on this Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial. Now, I am not one to praise the paper very often, but their editorial stance on election reform is both reasonable and fair. They take the stance (and I concur) that Wisconsin's voting laws, which, yes, are "liberal," are responsible for our higher-than-average turnout and great participation. Messing around with the laws without good cause, they say, is a bad idea, with this specific editorial arguing against uber-strict photo-ID rules.

Owen, who has been doing a toned-down Wayne Madsen impression, is convinced that something is not kosher in (Democratic-voting) Milwaukee, and the fault is our "liberal" voting laws:

No, [he writes,] identification fraud hasn’t been proven, nor can it ever be proven.  If voters do not currently have to prove their identity, how is it possible to prove identification fraud?  [. . .] What we can look at is a preponderance of the evidence.  We have thousands more votes than we have voters, which indicates that people may have voted more than once.  We have well over a thousand same-day registration forms for which no voter can be verified, indication than many people may have provided false identification.  There are many indications that massive voter fraud took place in Wisconsin, but it will never be proven to a certainty.

What I see (and have seen, as a Milwaukee voter) is septuagenarians who are overtaxed on a 16-hour day.

Look, I am pretty well plugged in to the Milwaukee Democratic/ liberal/ leftist/ Green/ anarchist community. I go to meetings. I'm on email lists that would make Castro blush. If there were a concerted effort to perpetrate fraud in Milwaukee, I would have heard about it. Hell, I might have been leading it. But no such effort existed. Owen (and the conservative yakkers on the radio) are trying to weave innocuous threads into some tapestry of Democratic evil-doing. It just isn't true.

More importantly, let's look at some of the editorial Owen didn't quote, information you should probably take into account:

The new rule would make voting more of a hassle for the 123,000 Wisconsin voting-age residents who, according to the Department of Transportation, lack a state driver's license or ID card and for those residents who lose or forget their cards. The bill's provision to offer both the license and ID card free of charge lessens the hassle only somewhat. (And, by the way, that would cost the state an estimated $1 million per year. [Where's the "why we need TABOR" now?])

[. . . ] The Legislature's premature fix would move Wisconsin into a tie with South Carolina for the most stringent identification requirements in the country. That's not good company; the Dixie state has a sordid history of denying voting rights to African-Americans.

Seriously. Think about that: Do we want to be more like Minnesota or like South Carolina? Y'all?

Wisconsin Wednesday: The All-In-One Post

No One Listens to Me
Not that I could have gone to a daytime meeting, anyway (and I have a meeting until 6:30 tonight so I can't even go to the evening part of the program), but if state legislators care what anyone in the state's largest urban center thinks about the next biennial budget, it will only come from people willing and able to drive an hour or so to Watertown.

I mean, it's not like I don't have things to say. I do. Like, I think Jim Doyle blew it by slipping in a proposal to tax internet downloads. The idea just seems riddled with holes (Stacie [née and again] Rosenzweig has a good run-down). On the other hand, I think the Republicans are also crazy to want to hamstring everyone from your sewerage district to your school district with a tax freeze.

Not that I could have said anything, 'cuz, you know, they don't seem to want my opinion.

Belated Sympathy
to Russ Feingold. His mother Sylvia passed away last week.

Tommy Scores
How many damn jobs can one former HHS secretary hold? Looks like two three. Who's a lucky ducky now?

Why We Don't Need TABOR
You often hear Republicans and conservative bloggers whining about the "liberal media" presenting slanted news. From where I sit, all I hear is the TABOR drumbeat. (If you want me to re-hash my opposition to it, I will. Later.) Why do we need TABOR?, you might ask them. They say, Our taxes are stifling! It's a Tax Hell!

Yeah, I guess that's why Wisconsin's economy--unfrozen taxes and all--is kicking butt. To wit:

The weaker dollar and stronger corporate profits mean that demand for capital goods made in Wisconsin will be extremely healthy in the United States and abroad this year, he said.

Wisconsin produces more than its share of such goods, so the boom will help it more than the rest of the nation. The weaker dollar in particular means that the machinery and industrial parts made in Wisconsin can be sold overseas at competitive prices, Nichols said. That will lead to a boom in manufacturing in the state.

Now, I don't know that Jim Doyle deserves all the credit--Bush and his high-deficit, weak-dollar policies have a hand in it--but I think that Republicans' complaining about how dismal our economy is are starting to ring pretty hollow.

My Sleepy Head

The paper's headline this morning: High schoolers may soon sleep in. That also means me. There are some issues--like how our idiot superintendent can't just unilaterally declare start times--but I may get a break next year.

I'm not fully persuaded that it's the best thing to do, but it may ease a little tension at the folkbum household.

Wisconsin Wednesday: Call Kohl, Kind

I wrote last about Kohl's apparent support for the horrible bankruptcy bill working its way through the Senate. It is not too late to contact him about it, even though the cloture vote happened today, and debate is almost over. If we try hard enough, we might still be able to get his corporate head out of his corporate rear long enough to vote nay on this puppy. Hie thee to a phone:

Washington Office
Phone: (202) 224-5653
Fax: (202) 224-9787

Milwaukee Office
Phone: (414) 297-4451 or 1-800-247-5645 (toll free in Wisconsin)
Fax: (414) 297-4455

Madison Office
Phone: (608) 264-5338
Fax: (608) 264-5473

Eau Claire Office
Phone: (715) 832-8424
Fax: (715) 832-8492

Appleton Office
Phone: (920) 738-1640
Fax: (920) 738-1643

La Crosse Office
Phone: (608) 796-0045
Fax: (608) 796-0089

In addition, it seems 3rd CD Dem Ron Kind seems to be supporting the bill, too. Make another call while you're at it:

Washington
PH: (202) 225-5506
FX: (202) 225-5739

La Crosse
PH: (608) 782-2558
FX: (608) 782-4588

Eau Claire
PH: (715) 831-9214
FX: (715) 831-9272

This bill is bad for seniors, veterans, the uninsured, anyone who can't afford attorneys to set up legal trusts, you, me, and everybody in between. It was penned by credit card lobbyists (literally, by some accounts) and the Republicans (and some Dems) have shown their true stripes by voting down every single amendment meant to protect average Americans. Every. Single. One.

You know, I keep telling my wife not to worry, that I won't file to run against Kohl in the primary. But this is the kind of crap that makes me reconsider it.

Teaching Tuesday

First off, Ms. Lauren of Feministe is doing some practice teaching with one of my favorite poems, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." It brings back memories, as I did that poem during my own student teaching days.

Second, let me argue early and loudly for some better Geography teaching in our nation's middle schools. Well, at least my district's middle schools. My 9th graders are doing a research project, a simple comparison-contrast thing involving two cities, Milwaukee (kids ought to know a little something about where they live, no?) and some international city, i.e., a city outside of the United States.

"Can I do Denver?" a student asks. No, I tell him, since Denver is not outside of the United States.

"Oh, you mean like Kansas City?" (I wish I were making these up.) Again, I explain, Kansas City is in the U.S. We want something in a foreign country.

"Can I do France?" That's better, I say, but France is a whole country; pick a city in France.

"How about Hawaii?" (By now I'm feeling frustrated.) Hawaii, I explain, is neither a city nor outside of the U.S.

(And it goes on like that.)

Add to it the argument when a student insisted that it wasn't plagiarism if he changed a word or two, and--I'd better stop. We did the research yesterday and today; we start outlining tomorrow. Don't even ask how it went when we found percentages from their opinion surveys . . .

Iron Blog

It's back, with a Battle on about "objective journalism." Expect lots of puns from me in the comments: "I object!" "Jeff Gannon sure used his object!" and so on.

I'm not proud. It's just what I do.

Inernational Women's Day

Check out a sampling of some of my favorite women songwriters:

• Carrie Newcomer
• Lucy Kaplansky
• Patty Larkin
• Ani DiFranco
• Susan Werner
• The Nields
• Patty Griffin

Why do I write songs?

At the Peggy Seeger workshop Saturday, she started with that question. And, since I came in right at the start time, I got stuck in the chair just to her left, so she also started with me.

You'd think, after doing this for fifteen years, i would have a better answer. I don't, especially not without time to plan.

My standard answer--which I'm not terribly proud of--is that the short form of the song is just the right size to get my head around. I don't have time to pound out the novel in my head (someday I'll tell you about it). Most of the time I even really don't have time to do much long-form blogging. (Full disclosure--I don't even really have time for songwriting, either.)

Now, that doesn't mean that I don't think songwriting is as hard or as challenging as fiction or even blogging. It is, and its demands are very precise and, in many ways, more challenging than prose.

So why do I do it? I can't say I know for sure. That's going to be my challenge this week.

No, no, no

Katryna Nields has polyps again. Why can't I get polyps instead? I mean, I already can't sing, and I need the time off from school.

Okay . . .

. . . so no Peggy Seeger Day report. I know, I know. But I still have a mound of papers to grade before tomorrow, and my helper monkey doesn't read English (only Czech), so I have to do them all myself.

Peggy Seeger Day

Did the workshop. Going to the concert soon. Report tomorrow, or Monday.

Sometimes you learn things

Just tooling through the blogger NavBar "Next Blog" links, I learned an ancient secret.

Friday Random Ten (Annotated)

You know the drill: Fire up the mp3 player, set it to random, and list the first ten songs, no matter how embarassing or uncool it makes you seem. Note: Since the death of my hard drive last month, I've had to re-build my iTunes. I'm currently up to the Ms (yes, I alphabetize), so this list will be somewhat limited by that.

1. "I Don't Feel Like a Train" John Gorka from Temporary Road: John's one of my heroes, as a songwriter. This is from one of his earlier albums, before he was quite the fixture that he is today. But this track exhibits some of his greatest strengths: clever wordplay over a deeply philosophical discussion. Take the end: "I don't feel like a train anymore, I feel like the track/ I think that I can help you if direction's what you lack/ though I'm never hard to find, I'm out and open every day/ though I cannot carry you, I can show you the way." An uplifting end to a conceit that could be kind of depressing. Also, I don't have the liner notes in front of me, so I can't be certain that it's Nancy Griffith's harmonies here, but for me, they take this song to the next level.

2. "Twilight Time" Leo Kottke from Live: A classic recording of the classic Platters' hit, done by the master of 12-string guitar. What's not to like about this record?

3. "Been There, Done That (Live)" The Loomers from Shine: When I was in college, I did a lot of talent booking for several of the music series. (In retrospect, it's really kind of scary how much money they entrusted to me and my friends to spend bringing our favorite people to campus to play for us.) One of the acts I admired most was singer-songwriter Jon Svetkey, one of a cohort of Boston songwriters that included Ellis Paul, Dar Williams, and Jim Infantino (of Jim's Big Ego). Building on what people like Bill Morissey--and, yes, John Gorka--accomplished in the 1980s, the 1990s "new folk" songwriters brought both a wide audience and whole lot of talent to what many people thought was a genre that died the day Dylan went electric. Anyway, Jon Svetkey's debut CD included "Been There, Done That," a kind of world-weary "bought the t-shirt" song from the heyday of the "whatever" early 90s. "I'm tired of all the talking, tied of all the shocking, and can anybody tell me any more good jokes?" (When you think about it, that's a pretty silly thing for someone in his 20s.) Facing his 30s without a career in music that would really support him, Jon retired from touring, but keeps playing around Boston with his band, the Loomers, and occasionally solo. This CD was recorded live, including some songs--like this one--at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

4. "Sweet Sixteen (Live)" BB King from Live at the Apollo: The King of the Blues, bending strings live. I love the horns on this record--I think my life would be so much better if I had my own horn section!--not to mention King's voice and guitar in their prime.

5. "Tell It to the Gov'nor" Bela Fleck and the Flecktones from Bela Fleck and the Flecktones: Howard Levy is a harmonica god. Period. Oh, and Victor Wooten is a bass god. Period. (This is not one of my favorite songs of theirs, but, damn, Levy can bend those notes.)

6. "Old Future" John Gorka from Old Futures Gone: Another downer, about 9/11, I think: "Fear took down the winged life, the winged life we've led." And so on. One thing about John Gorka: As sad as much of his music is, he is one of the funniest live performers, ever. He's like Steven Wright (remember him?) on stage, with deadpan ridiculous humor. If you get a chance to see him live, go out of your way if you must to see him. Really. His email updates are pretty funny, too.

7. "Barricades & Brickwalls" Kasey Chambers from Barricades & Brickwalls: Kasey Chambers is the Texas-est Aussie you will ever hear. In much the same way as the Norwegians in Minnesota are more Norwegian than the Norwegians in Norway, Chambers and her band have fully resisted the trends by which American "country" music has been Faith Hilled. This song, like much of the rest of this album, is gritty and not pseudo-pop-radio friendly. By the time she gets done explaining that "Barricades and brick walls won't keep me from you," you can tell she means it. There's no painted-on smile here.

8. "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" Shawn Colvin from Cover Girl: Shawn Colvin's had some minor commercial success, but she's long been a fixture in the singer-songwriter world. This record was kind of her tip-o'-the-hat to all the songwriters who influenced her and whose work she regularly covered back then. This is her great version of the Dylan classic, recorded live at, I think, the erstwhile Bottom Line in New York, one of her old haunts. It's a great reading of the song, and quite the nifty guitar arrangement, too.

9. "Mannish Boy (Live)" The Band from The Last Waltz: (Speaking of when Dylan went electric . . .) Everyone should own The Last Waltz. I don't know why you wouldn't. That two hours is perhaps the most complete precis of Rock history. This track explores the roots--Muddy Waters hisself joins the Band (with Paul Butterfield on harmonica, I think--curse this liner-notelessness!). Maybe delta blues isn't your thing, but Muddy is the master, doing his signature song. This is as good as it gets.

10. "#34" Dave Matthews Band from Under the Table and Dreaming: The instrumental cut the closes the record. For a while in college, I wanted to be Dave Matthews, but then I realized that playing "frat boy music" meant playing frat houses, which, having occasionally been in one, I really had no desire to do.

Something for your Weekend

At least, if you're in or near Milwaukee:

From: Sandy, Folky1 Prodcutions
Date: Thu Mar 3, 2005 1:00:35 PM US/Central
To: folkbum
Subject: Peggy Seeger in concert March 5th at the Miramar

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to let you know about this upcoming benefit concert and songwriting workshop. The Urban Ecology Center is one of my favorite local non-profits. Part of their mission is to help urban dwellers, especially children, to gain a connection with the earth, not by taking them out to the country, but by working with them right here within the city and they do great work! And Peggy is a wonderful performer who seldom comes to Milwaukee. Hope to see some of you there!

Thanks,
Sandy
Folky1 Productions

Peggy Seeger - Songwriting Workshop & Concert to benefit the Urban Ecology Center

Member of the musical Seeger family, Peggy Seeger is a singer of traditional Anglo-American songs and activist songmaker. She plays six instruments: piano, guitar, 5-string banjo, Appalachian dulcimer, autoharp and English concertina. She has recorded 19 solo albums and participated directly in more than a hundred others. The workshop is co-hosted by the Portage Road Songwriters Guild. Learn more about this amazing artist at www.pegseeger.com. Special guest, Milwaukee's own Larry Penn, will also be performing at the concert.

Saturday, March 5

Songwriting Workshop:
Urban Ecology Center (www.UrbanEcologyCenter.org)
Riverside Park, 1500 E. Park Place
1:30 p.m.
For adults
$12 in advance and $15 at the door (UEC Members - $12) Call 967-0302 to register.

Concert:
Miramar Theater (www.themiramartheatre.com)
2844 N. Oakland Ave.
8 p.m.
For everyone
$12 in advance and $15 at the door (UEC Members - $12) Tickets are available through Ticketmaster, the Miramar Box Office (414) 967-0302 and the UEC (414) 964-8505.

Wisconsin Wednesday: Snacilbuper

Republicans here in Wisconsin do everything backwards. Really. Recent examples:

Problem: Wisconsin's largest school district, with more students in poverty, in special education, and speaking a language other than English as their first, is failing too many of the students it serves.
Republican-enacted solution: Take resources away from the district, and invest tax money in fly-by-night schools that can be established and staffed by anyone with a pulse and which are held to exactly zero academic standards.
Problem: Wisconsin's taxes are high and the tax structure is particularly punitive to middle-class homeowners.
Republican-proposed solution: Pass a law freezing taxes at the high level and propose a constitutional amendment making the tax structure permanent.
Problem: Wisconsin's health care costs are increasing faster than any other state's in the region.
Republican-proposed solution: Cap liability payouts in lawsuits--oh, wait, we did this years ago and our rates are climbing faster than ever.
Problem: Wisconsin's electoral votes go to Democrats.
Republican-proposed solution: Erect barriers to voting, including the elimination of same-day registration.

This is the most recent:
Problem: Wisconsin families and workers are being squeezed by high property taxes and high health care costs.
Republican solution: Prevent Wisconsin cities with the highest costs of living from raising the minimum wage for their residents--which might have made the squeeze a little less painful.

Monday this week, Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett signed a bill that would phase in a new minimum wage of $6.50 an hour, the same increase recommended by a non-partisan state panel last year for the whole of Wisconsin. When Republican legislators (perhaps goosed by the business lobby's hands in their back pockets) balked at that plan, Madison enacted its own raise last year, phasing in an eventual rate of $7.75 by 2008. Milwaukee is the second city to raise its rate. (And it looks like Lacrosse may be the third.)

Remember, a worker earning the current minimum wage ($5.15) full-time would still only earn $11,000 a year pre-tax, pre-health care, pre-food and shelter. That is, literally, poverty wages if that person has a child. (A raise to $6.50 would only barely lift that person above poverty level.) As my guy in the Assembly Josh Zepnick put it (pdf), "Right now, a minimum wage earner can afford a monthly rent of no more than $268. Maybe some people in the Republican leadership would like to go apartment shopping with me on Milwaukee's South Side [. . .] I sure haven't been able to find any $268 apartments." (And it's true--search here.)

The business lobby, though, is crying foul. (As much as conservatives dislike trial lawyers, they sure do go to court a lot, don't they?) I say so what if the duly elected officials of certain cities want to ensure that the people who live there are able to stay there? But those Snacilbupers are even refusing to compromise.

Anyway, perfect opportunity for Republicans controlling the legislature to deny any actual solutions for the problems that they are only happy to exploit.

"Entirely Appropriate" My Fat White Blasphemous Ass!

(Cross-posted from Liberal Street Fighter, where the hits just won't quit!)

So I was driving home listening to "All Things Considered" when they ran Nina Totenberg's story on the Ten Commandments SCOTUS case. As is her wont, she read excerpts of the transcript, so that we little people can get a feel for the back and forth of the oral arguments. One particular exchange set me off pretty good:

Totenberg read Antonin "Fat Tony" Scalia questioning the anti-Commandmenters. "[The Ten Commandments] are a symbol that the government derives its authority from God, and that seems to me entirely appropriate." WTF?

Has that man read a history book? How in the hell can he be fit to serve as an arbiter of what the Constitution says when he doesn't have the first clue where that document draws its moral and legal authority from?

The Constitution is a wholly secular document, based on natural and civil rights of humankind. It owes far more to humanist philosophy than scripture; Madison and Hamilton and Jay and the others who formed the framework of our government and penned the Bill of Rights spent their time at the Constitutional Convention discussing the ancient Greeks and the contemporary French, not the Biblical Hebrews.

Hell, if the Ten Commandments truly were the basis of our system of laws, every teenager in America would be in jail for not honoring their fathers and mothers. I myself would be in the stocks because damned if I remember the last time I honored the Sabbath and kept it holy. How many Republican Congressmen are known adulterers?

Seriously, how in the hell can we allow Constitutional questions to be decided by someone who doesn't know the first thing about the Constitution?

Teaching Tuesday

Just some random notes today:
Ex-teacher and ex-candidate's wife Stacie is now officially an ex-candidate's ex-wife. I think congratulations are in order. Maybe a muffin basket. I don't know; I've never really done this before.

TeacherKen is going great gonzo with some nice educational posts, both at his own blog and at dKos. For example, there's this one about what makes a good teacher; this other one about good teaching; and a seriously scary post about how the right wants to destroy public education. (I mean, we've always known that's what they're up to, but now they're not even trying to hide it.)

Ms. Frizzle is going to Finland on a Fullbright. That definitelty deserves a muffin basket.

On a more solicitous note, we could really use your help to protect public education here in Wisconsin. Libby Burmaster is up for re-election as state superintendent. She's up against a Republican state lawmaker--a big voucher supporter. I've met Libby several times, and she's Good People: a lifelong educator, a non-partisan, and a big believer in the power of communities to change kids' lives. Any support you can give in this (mostly) non-election year will be greatly appreciated, especially since her opponent is likely to be rolling in national voucher money soon.

Next week, maybe we'll talk about what we did in class today: The Quote Sandwich. Yum.

Links, etc.

The sidebar is 90% done. I want some pictures, and there are a couple of blogs I want to link yet.

Plus, imageshack seems to be mucking with the pictures I already have. They show up sometimes, not others. Grr.

Mostly, I wanted to say that your blog's disappearance from my blogroll is not necessarily personal. I use my sidebar as a reading guide, so the blogs I link are the blogs I read. It's that simple. (If your feelings are really hurt, lemme know and I'll put you back.)

Let's start with Herb Kohl

Kohl is up for re-election in 2006, and while I like him okay, he could do much better for us. Here's what I wrote him today:

Please Vote Against Bankruptcy Bill
I know you voted the current bankruptcy "reform" bill out of committtee last week, but I urge you now to vote against it.

I would like to direct you to this story:

In it, the New Republic notes, "Under the current system, bankruptcy courts have broad discretion to decide who can file for Chapter 7, which allows debtors to erase their obligations after forfeiting a state-determined percentage of their remaining assets, and Chapter 13, which requires strict repayment according to court-ordered schedules. Judges base their decisions as much on why the debt was accrued as on income; this way people who come into debt through no fault of their own can get a fresh start, while a judge can decide that a careless gambler must pay what he owes. But the new bill would replace judicial discretion with a means test on household income--those above a certain level would be forced to file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy--dismantling the system's ability to discriminate among worthy and unworthy debtors.

Credit card companies insist that most filers are merely credit addicts who have spent beyond their means and want to stiff the industry with the bill. [. . .] But a recent Harvard study shows that roughly half of all filers for Chapter 7 do so in the wake of major medical expenses. Moreover, Chapter 7 bankruptcy is hardly a get-out-of-jail-free card--it leaves a prolonged stain on one's credit rating and imposes tough financial sanctions. The credit card companies, by contrast, don't seem to be hurt by the filings much at all. According to Harvard Law School bankruptcy expert Elizabeth Warren, since 1997, 'Bankruptcy filings have increased 17 percent, while credit card profits have increased 163 percent.' "

This bill is symptomatic of what Republicans everywhere are doing (we see a lot of it at the state level here in Wisconsin, too): They want to treat a symptom, not a cause. And in doing so, they are serving their investment-class masters rather than the best interests of everyday Americans.

Thank you.

Write your own letter to Herb Kohl here.

Fingers Crossed

Another quick repair from Apple and, Jobs willing, I will have my iBook warming my lap tonight.

UPDATE: I'm at the Apple Store. It's looking good. We just may have real bloggage again starting Monday.

What's Missing?

If you guessed "Jay's iBook," you'd be right!

I got a call from Scott over to the Apple Store this morning telling me that apparently, the Depot people replaced the logic board and not the hard drive, so that when they booted it up last night it failed miserably.

But since this is a family blog, I won't tell you how I really feel.

An Update, A Preview

So my iBook will be back in my hot little hands Saturday afternoon. Actually, it got to the Apple Store sometime Thursday morning--and considering that I dropped it off Monday night and it didn't ship to the Depot until Tuesday morning, that's fast.

So today I want to give you a a preview of what the remade f's r&r will be all about. Mostly, it has to do with trying to keep a regular schedule:

Monday: My Music Moday--I will take the time to talk about something related to my music. I will try to get you all mp3s if you want them, as well as talk about process, lyrics, and such. (By the way, if anyone knows someone willing to host downloadable mp3s, you should let me know.)
Tuesday: Teaching Tuesday--I glimpse into what I'm beating into those young minds: literature, grammar, writing.
Wednesday: Wisconsin Wednesday--I will try to focus on local stuff at least once a week. That's not to say I will never write about Wisconsin other times; it's just that Wednesday is alliterative.
Thursday: Thursday Three--Three posts from around the net that you maybe haven't read, but should have.
Friday: Friday Random Ten (Annotated)--You know the drill: Set your iPod/ mp3 player/ iTunes/ whatever to random and list the first ten songs. I will annotate my list, with commentary, reminiscence, and recommendations. Obviously, I can't do this today without my iBook.
Weekend: Random stuff, greatest hits from the past or my other writing outlets, whatever.

So, come on back. I will try to have something this weekend (and I'm still re-arranging the sidebar links so there are fewer and they are easier to navigate). At any rate, there will be real postage here Monday. Promise.

Yellow plus Blue makes Green!

Or, go start reading Blue and Red, which is not really about color at all.

Bad News

While my hard drive is off being replaced (I am fully backed up this time!) I'm pushing back my re-launch. I will aim now for Saturday the 19th. Sorry.

Update update

The new template is basically done. I think I need to do a little tweaking of the sidebar's width. The content of the sidebar is still in flux; I hope to trim it to about half its current length. I'm still not officially "back" yet, though. Just working through the process.

UPDATE on the Update update: I fixed the sidebars. I have seen the site in Mac and Windows, Mozilla and IE and Safari. Anyone see anything that looks bad?

Oh

And for those of you in driving distance of Ft. Atkinson, I'm at the Cafe Carpe Friday, Feb. 11. Come on out and see the show. I'll buy you cake.

I'll be back

Hiatus is almost over. I will be back--I promise--on Feb. 17, one year to the day after Howard Dean's loss here in the Wisconsin primary and the official death of what little political optimism I'd started to have.

In the meantime, keep reading me at LSF every Monday. I'm up for a Koufax, too, if you care to head over and vote. I will be rearranging and trimming my sidebar links, so click through while they're still there.

Your patience will be rewarded!

Add the whole Cheddarsphere list to your blog!

If you are a progressive/left/Democratic Wisconsin blogger, add these links to your sidebar. This is the most thorough list I can cull of such blogs. Copy and paste this list into your links section!

<P>The Cheddarsphere</P>
<MENU>
<LI><A HREF="http://amtalrule.typepad.com/the_amtal_rule/">The Amtal Rule</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.babblemur.com/">Babblemur!</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.badgerblues.org/">Badger Blues</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.benpac.blogspot.com/">BenPAC</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://billycreek.blogspot.com/">BillyCreek</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://milwaukee.blogspot.com/">Brewtown Politico</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.campustavern.com/">Campus Tavern</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.etchouse.com/cpd/">CPD</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.crawfordstake.blogspot.com/">Crawford's Take</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://jennasimsgray.com/blog/">Crazy Auntie Jenna</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://jabartlett.blogspot.com/">The Daily Aneurysm</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/thalia115/">Daily Granola</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.dane101.net/">Dane 101</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://different-take.blogspot.com/">A Different Take</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://dr_saaron.blogspot.com/">Doc's Home</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://wit.com/dyskeptic/">Dyskeptic</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.wisopinion.com/blogs/eyeonwi/index.html">Eye on Wisconsin</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://powervoyeur.blogspot.com/">Fearful Symmetries</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://scottfeldstein.net/blog/index.php">Scott Feldstein</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://fightingbob.com/">Fighting Bob</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://flamingojones.blogspot.com/">Flamingo Jones</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://folkbum.blogspot.com/">folkbum's rambles and rants</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.wicollegedems.com/blog/index.php">Forward: College Dems</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://forwardourmotto.blogspot.com/">Forward Our Motto</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://charlesgray.net/blog/index.php">Charles Gray</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://jef4wi.blogspot.com/">Jef Hall</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://happycircumstance.blogspot.com/">The Happy Circumstance</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.20six.co.uk/Heraldblog">HeraldBlog</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://ineffect.blogspot.com/">In Effect</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://isoincident.blogspot.com/">Isolated Incident</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.tarapfeifer.com/">It Could Always Be Worse</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.kgraff.net/blog/">Kathy's Blog</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://leaningblue.blogspot.com/"><i>Leaning</i> Blue</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://dancody.org/">Left on the Lake</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://leftturndave.blogspot.com/">LefTurn</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://madisonobserver.blogspot.com/">MadBlog</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://westmadisonprogressive.blogspot.com/">Madison: Go West and Turn Left</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.zmetro.com/schools/">Madison School Information System</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://atbozzo.blogspot.com/">Marginal Utility</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.madison.com/post/blogs/micprog/index.php">The Mic</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://mixtersmix.blogspot.com/">Mixter's Mix</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://blog.nateweb.info/">The NateWeb</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://thenewvernacular.com/">The New Vernacular</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.thenewsisbroken.com/blog/">The News is Broken</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://noontheamendment.blogspot.com/">No on the Amendment</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://pastpeak.com/">Past Peak</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://playgroundpolitics.blogspot.com/">Playground Politics</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://pointprogression.blogspot.com/">Point Progression</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://publicbrewery.blogspot.com/">Public Brewery</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.madison.com/post/blogs/wtdy/index.php">The Pulse</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.wisconsinprogressive.com/blog/">Purple Cheese</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.rustyspigot.net/">The Rusty Spigot</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://sadie1.blogspot.com/">Sadie Says</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.samsdeadfishclub.com/blog/">Sam's Dead Fish Club</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://scoutprime.blogspot.com/">Scout Prime</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://sequoit.blogspot.com/">Le Sequoit</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://robola.blogspot.com/">Someone Took In These Pants</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://allspin.blogspot.com/">Mike Basford's Spin City</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.storyhill.net/SHNAHoodHappenings.htm">Story Hill</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.surroundedbyred.com/">Surrounded by Red</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://brendakonkel.blogspot.com/">This Side of Town</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.topofmyhead.info/">Top of My Head</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://wisconsinite.net/dairyconspiracy/">The Vast Dairy State Conspiracy</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.watchdogmilwaukee.com/">Watchdog Milwaukee</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.waxingamerica.com/">Paul Soglin's Waxing America</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.wisopinion.com/blogs/whatsleft/index.html">What's Left</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.wisconsingrassrootsdemocrats.blogspot.com/">Wisconsin Grassroots Democrats</A>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.wisopinion.com/blogs/xofffiles.html">Xoff Files</A></menu>
<P>CandiBlogs</P>
<MENU>
<LI><A HREF="http://kreitlowcorner.blogspot.com/">Pat Keitlow (SD-23)</A>
</MENU>
<P>LegiBlogs</P>
<MENU>
<LI><A HREF="http://markpocan.blogspot.com/">Mark Pocan (AD-78)</A>
</MENU>

Do you wish to be on this list? Are you a blogging Democratic state legislator or Democratic candidate for state or federal office? Let me know and I'll add you to the blogroll!

Official

I am officially on hiatus until at least Jan. 1. I will try to re-launch then with a new template, links, variety, and surprises. Right now just check my weekly gig at Liberal Street Fight. I'll still read my email if you need/ want/ care to contact me.

I'm on drugs (again)

So last night, before the really big show, I bought a can of La Croix from a vending machine in the hallway outside the performance space so I could have something to drink on stage (I'd forgotten to bring a bottle of water, as the Coffee House doesn't sell cold beverages, just, well, coffee). I bent down to get it from the dispensing part, and, yep, hurt the back.

So I played the show in more pain than I really wanted to be in, but I think I did okay for it being my first paying solo performance in nearly two years. I gotta get back into the performance swing of things. People were at least saying nice things afterwards. I did not play the song below, although this morning I played through that one with my group (singwriters, though there is some theraputic benefit) and they liked it. I've also got a new political one I'll post later, maybe, that I did play and people liked, though the group had a problem with the bridge.

Anyway, where I'm going with this, is that I want to send a shout-out to Madman in the Marketplace, a fellow Liberal Street Fighter, and thoughful conservative Dean, who both came out to the show.

And, as an extra-special bonus, A Quiz!:

You are 60% Virgo

How much do you match your zodiac sign?

Via feministe.

Wha?

Okay, how screwed up is it that Kmart now owns Lands' End? It's like my world is upside down.

You Fix It

Here's a new feature on folkbum's R&R: When I get too lazy to bother to edit my own stuff, I'll make you do it. Here's a song that hasn't gone over as well as some. I kind of like it; it's got a catchy melody and some good lines. So lay it on me: What would you change?

SOS

[chorus]
You can save me if you want to
I don’t think I am worth the trip
And I don’t think I would blame you
If you left this sinking ship

SOS in the morning, with your coffee and your bread
You have heard the radar warning, and let me stay in bed
I have done my damage, I am taking this ship down
Your choice seems pretty clear to me: Come back, or let me drown

[chorus]

SOS in the evening, cooking dinner, it’s my turn
I know somebody’s gonna go hungry, and somebody’s gonna get burned
It will all just fall apart, like everything else I touch
I’ve left a string of broken hearts who don’t like drowning much

[chorus]

You didn’t sign on for an iceberg, you didn’t sign on for a dive
I know I can change if I just get the chance please hold on now and keep me alive

SOS in the nighttime, walking the hall like a plank
Got a view of the ocean floor, got no one but myself to thank
I should come with a life jacket, as much as I torpedo love
But as the briny deep closes over me it’s your face I’ll be thinking of

[chorus, repeat last line twice]

Oh, My Word! Volume 2

My second column is up at LSF. I may have something later today for you here; I may not. You'll just have to come back and check now, won't you?

Some day this week I'll clean out my template, getting rid of election 04 crap. Anyone got any ideas for what I should replace it with?

Post-Election Neglection

In between grading exams and frantically trying to improvise something to teach next week, I'm busily preparing for the really big show next weekend. I haven't played live in front of people since May, and I need both to practice and finish up a couple of half-done songs.

So talk amongst yourselves. You can do that here, or at any of the fine blogs linked down and to the right.

LSF

I wanted to get to this earlier, but, well. Life and other plans and all. Liberal Street Fight has officially launched. That link will take you there, but eventually liberalstreetfight.com will be the preferred address. liberalstreetfight.org and liberalstreetfighter.com are the current pathways while the folks in charge resolve issues with ISPs and whatnot.


This post lays out the philosophy and posting calendar. Anyone who followed the launch of Open Source Politics knows that a calendar is for squat when it comes to group blogs, but I, for one, plan to stick to the target, since what I'm writing about--writing--is not current-events dependent. The first installment of "Oh, My Word!" is here.

I'll ask you guys, too, since you may not carry over and since I know you all are full of piss and vinegar: I'm looking for reader questions and reader suggestions for the column. I have my own ideas--and I've even got most of next week's column done already--but the only way "Oh, My Word!" will be successful is if I have audience participation. Drop a comment here, there, or to my email, please. And, since grammar is non-partisan (although eventually I will do some media criticism and "frames" work a la Lakoff), anyone can play. Don't be shy, Big Dan.

I'm not dead

I'm just really busy. It's the end of the quarter and all.

I had a chance to see Ira Glass from "This American Life" last night, and I want to review it, as well as catch up on some of the news around here, but I can't. Sorry.

The Silver Linings

Some cribbed from around the blogosphere, and some not.

Let's remember how poor a victory this was for the Whopper™:

• This is the largest number of people who have ever voted AGAINST a president
• 1% more than 50% is not a mandate but a bare, thin, majority.
• Assuming Bush gets New Mexico and Iowa, he will have gotten the lowest percentage of electoral votes (54%) of any incumbent running for reelection since Wilson. If those two states should swing Kerry's way (NM might), it'll be even lower.
• He will have won with the lowest percentage of the popular vote (51%) of any incumbent running for reelection since Truman (who ran in a 4-way race that included Strom Thurmond)
• He will have won by the lowest margin of the popular vote (3.5M) of any  incumbent running for reelection since Truman (2.1M, and back then only 50M voted).
• He will have won the three states that put him over 270 (OH, NM and IA--assuming the last two go his way) by only 161,989 (not counting the provisional ballots, absentee, etc.).

I think some of those are wrong--didn't Clinton get less than 50% in 96?--but still, you have to admit, this election has not been an overwhelming victory for the man.

Also, what's pretty sweet about this term is that Republicans will have no one but themselves to blame for all of the things that go wrong--and they will go wrong. See my post below for how I think we ought to really handle it. This is also prime time for scandal, and there are five or eight of them ready to go, from the Plame thing to the recent supressed CIA report on 9/11. I think that by 2008, the moderates--who voted for Kerry, by the way--will see what they bought.

More than that, there's no one in the bullpen for the Republicans right now. Arnold can't run. Jeb won't run. Rudy is waaaaaay too moderate. Colin Powell has the stench of this administration on him. McCain is too old. There's nobody waiting to jump into the foray on their side.

Patience, my friends. This, too, will pass. And then we will have our cake.

Mmmmm. Cake.

[UPDATE: Ms. Lauren has a nice collection of stuff]

Next Four Years

If we were an organized party, here's what I'd suggest: We give Republicans everything they want. In spades.

First, the Democrats in Congress should not mount opposition to anything beyond their "nay" votes. Skip debates. Skip press conferences. Skip public shows of outrage or indignation. Just let it happen.

Next, saturate the country with civil disobedience among the faithful. For example, when they start mandating prayer in schools, all the good Democratic teachers should obey the law as it is now, not as it will be then. When they outlaw abortion, all the good Democratic OB/GYNs and surgeons should rush to clinics to perform them. As media ownership rules slacken, the Soros-Turner-Robbins-Sarandon-Reiner-Springsteen conglomerate should buy as many TV and radio stations as they can and air Dem-slanted news and gay-friendly entertainment. My personal favorite: Good Democratic-owned corporations should announce that they are moving their headquarters to tax haven islands in the Bahamas or someplace (not workers!) and, as they do it, hold press conferences and make a big to-do about how they so love the Republicans' tax loopholes, since it saves them billions.

It won't take long for the people to wake up. (I hope.) It won't take long before parents are asking how little Johnny's school can be closed with all the teachers fired. It won't take long before the women at the office demand to know why all of the OBs in the practice are in jail.

The possibilities are endless--like women wondering why all the good hairdressers at the shop moved to Massachusetts or why someone can't get an electrician in the middle of the night when they need one.

After a very short while, it will become obvious the the Republican agenda has absolutely nothing to do with making anyone's life any better. Best of all, the Democrats can say--rightly--that they had no part in it and tried to stop this agenda in Congress. But, you know, the will of the people seemed to be so . . . clear . . .

A Debut

Check out Liberal Street Fight. I will be doing a weekly column over there about grammar and writing, plus the occasional political rant, like the one below, which I cross-posted.

The IP address is still getting worked out--someday soon it should be liberalstreetfight.com. But for now, follow the link.

I guess I was wrong

I never would have thought this to be the case. I've been wrong before, of course, but I was trying to give Americans the benefit of the doubt.

I guess Americans really do want a a phony cowboy president with a strained relationship to the truth. Americans must want unprecedented secrecy in governmental operations, an administration that lies to Congress and companies that stand to profit setting governmental policy. Americans apparently don't mind rampant cronyism in government, either, or the insane culture of fear the Bush administration fosters among us.

The American worker must not be concerned about record budget deficits or spiraling national debt. I guess they like double-digit health care cost increases, steadily decreasing real wages, seeing their stock portfolios plummet, the dollar in freefall, the way oil prices to keep climbing, and the chances of inflation. The middle class sure seems keen on losing overtime rights, and watching 18,000 preventable deaths every year of their uninsured friends--that's one 9/11 every two months. The jobless, though, also apparently are okay with being dropped from the health-care plans, new job creation lagging behind historical trends and not keeping up with growth in the working-age population, in part because Bush's trade agreements hurt American workers.

Baby Boomers with children must be really keyed into the idea of all schools being "in need of improvement" and how the costs of post-secondary education keeps going up. And for their aging parents, Boomers must be glad to see that there will be a trillion-dollar shortfall in Social Security from privatization as senior citizens get locked into drug plans that can jack up prices at will.

It's suprising, but it turns out the American people really do want to stifle stem-cell research and see policies to undermine and judges who don't believe in medical privacy put in place. They must not mind the idea of ratcheting up discrimination against gays and lesbians and writing bigotry in to the US Constitution.

People here sure don't seem to care about asthma-inducing air, mercury in the water, people who hate the environment overseeing the environment, or how we'll have to drive energy-inefficient cars.

Even though the states most likely to be hit by terrorists voted to keep themselves safe, the vast majority of Americans must kind of like constant war with no clear exit strategy, and how the Commander in Chief to ignore recommendations from his top military planners before going to war while giving billions in juicy reconstruction contracts to go to wasteful contractors. These Americans must be all right with allowing al Qaeda to grow, letting terror attacks to keep accelerating in frequency and intensity, letting terrorists escape if it's good for PR, all while fighting a War on Terror producing diminishing returns. Americans are apparently really into an anachronistic state-based War on Terror and a president whose namesake "Doctrine" is a failure. It's okay for Russian nuclear material to go unsecured, North Korea to go nuclear, Iran to go nuclear, and Taliban warloads to gain power in Afghanistan. It's no big deal that we have a Pentagon whose intelligence team trusts convicted con men and listens to partisans instead of the International Atomic Energy Agency. And so what if we have a strained and fading partnership with NATO and Europe

In the end, it's probably for the best that this other America--an America I didn't even realize existed--got to decide who should be president, since I want no part of any of this. No part at all.

Give

Now. And a lot.

This isn't over.

The nice thing about cake

Is that you can call it victory cake or eat it in commiseration. It really works either way.

WI Results of Interest

1. Feingold is projected; also by NBC & AP.
2. By the link above, all the congressional incumbents will win. They haven't called Tammy Baldwin or Gwen Moore yet, but they will. Give it time.
3. I can't stand it! Turns out there's a reporting glich (NOT a counting glich) in Milwaukee County computers, so the state results we see do not include mui-Dem 4th CD votes.

Amateurs

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is blogging the election.

Where to find results?

Once polls close here, I'll be doing some LiveBlogging over to the OSP. I'll be posting results updates here and over there for the things I care about. Full Wisconsin results can be found here.

I'd also like to second (or third or however many times you've heard it) the Media Matters state-call site.

This is wrong

This is:

Chris Lato, a spokesman for the Republican Party of Wisconsin, said Tuesday the tires of 30 vans the party had rented to help get out the vote were slashed in Milwaukee. But he said it was not clear who was responsible.

Vandals had spray painted the words "Illegitimate Democracy" overnight Tuesday on the outside of the state GOP headquarters at Madison, Lato said.

Democrats should know better.

We voted, numbers 881 and 882 in our polling place. As I said, I can't compare with 2000, but I can compare that to when I was #732 in the Dem primary last February, more than three hours later than we voted today. There was no line, and voters were outnumbered by observers, I think. But it was early, yet--before the after-work rush.

I gotta go bake something. I can't stand it.

You can cut it with a spork

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

Jerome has exit polls. I'm still feeling cautiously optimistic. I'm reminded of primary season when the exit polls all came out and my guy was losing in them, and I was sure they were wrong. They weren't. Let us have some faith here, then, eh?

And go take this quiz. I got 33 of 40. I thought for sure I could do better.

It's looking good

Several turnout observations to report, with the polls only open a half hour or so. Here at school (which is a polling location), they were lining up before 6:30, and by 7:00, there must have been 40 people in line. All were African American, many older, at least one in a wheelchair. Many had Kerry-Edwards buttons on. The wards that vote here are reliably Democratic (as attested to by the yard signs I see), but I don't remember this kind of scene in 2000.

Two other teachers who voted on their way to school told me that lines were long before polls opened, again in reliably Dem areas of town. People are anxious to vote this idiot out of office. I'm cautiously optimistic right now.

I can't vote until after school, and it will be my first presidential vote in my ward, so I won't be able to compare with 2000. But anecdotally, at least, turnout is looking very good here in Milwaukee.

UPDATE: 8:15--the line continues here at school, and I've heard a couple of more stories of long lines at the polls when they opened. I may start smiling. At least until my third block--they'll kill any buzz. :(

There are at least two NAACP vols here, and one Election Protection (1 866 OUR VOTE) guy here, too. Good for them!

Where do I sign?

The Declaration of Bush Independence.

1 866 OUR VOTE

Know that number. Call it if you have any trouble. Because the GOP, afraid of what will happen if the people get to vote, will be causing trouble. For example:

Citing a new list of more than 37,000 questionable addresses, the state Republican Party demanded Saturday that Milwaukee city officials require identification from all of those voters Tuesday.

If the city doesn't, the party says it is prepared to have volunteers challenge each individual--including thousands who might be missing an apartment number on their registration--at the polls. [. . .]

City officials, who already were trying to establish safeguards in response to the party's claim of 5,619 bad addresses, were surprised by the 37,180 number, nearly seven times larger.

"It's not a leap at all to say the potential for voter fraud is high in the city, and the integrity of the entire election, frankly, is at stake," said Rick Graber, state GOP chairman. "The city's records are in horrible shape."
Any inaccurate address, he said, is an opening for someone to cast a fraudulent vote. However, many of the new addresses now cited might be eligible voters who have voted for years without problems.

City Attorney Grant Langley labeled the GOP request "outrageous." [. . .]

The initial GOP challenge, which was dismissed 3-0 by the city Election Commission last week, cited thousands of cases where no voter address exists, such as vacant lots and, in one case, a gyros stand.

It was the result of using a computer to compare the city's list of 386,526 registered voters to a U.S. Postal Service list of known addresses.

The same list generated about 13,300 cases where incorrect apartment numbers were listed, and some 18,200 more cases where no apartment number was listed for an existing building. However, the party didn't include any of those in its original challenge, filed three minutes before the 5 p.m. Wednesday deadline. [. . .]

Citing its expanded list, the GOP argues any address deficiency, such as no apartment number listed, constitutes an invalid registration.

Langley said he is not prepared to try to review more than 37,000 addresses by Monday, which would be necessary in order to be confident any "watch" lists given to poll workers do not include any valid addresses.

"Here we are Saturday night at 5 p.m., and they're going to drop 37,000 names on me?" Langley said. "There has got to be a deadline for a reason." [. . .]

"People certainly can come to their own conclusions," said Martha Love, chair of the Milwaukee County Democratic Party, noting a similar review was not done for Republican areas such as Bayside. "But if it's not voter intimidation or suppression, then what's the point?"

Kevin Kennedy, executive director of the state Elections Board, has been working with the city on the 5,619 addresses to put safeguards in place that would flag questionable addresses.

"The concern the board has is the pall it casts over the process," he said Saturday.

That's right: The GOP is planning to challenge and intimidate nearly 10% of Milwaukee's voters. Were there probably some fraudulent addresses submitted by registrars paid per new voter? Undoubtedly. Is this cause to fear widespread (or even localized) voter fraud? Goodness, no. I mean, even the celebrated voter fraud cases from 2000 turned out to be basically nothing:

Four years ago, the Journal Sentinel found at least 361 felons voted while still under state supervision in Milwaukee. Three men were charged, but the charges were dismissed when prosecutors were unable to prove they knew it was illegal for them to vote.

Last time, there were also reports of college students voting multiple times, though one student who bragged he voted four times--writing in himself - recanted, and a review by prosecutors of 400 other voters didn't turn up any double-voting.

Be prepared. Vote Monday, in fact, if you can, so to avoid this attempt at intimidation.

UPDATE: Scott has some thoughts, too.

And (I shudder to write this) go Pack!

When it comes down to it

You're gonna have to give as much for after the election as before. Here's a good place to start.

More MJS Endorsements

Not surprisingly, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has endorsed every incumbent in the congressional races--or, in the cases where there was no incumbent, then the incumbent's party. Of particular interest may be the Feingold endorsment. You can also check out the paper's Q&A with Feingold and Michels, which doesn't help Michels, I don't think. I couldn't get the audio to work, though.

Also, if you're interested in taking on Feingold next time around, or challenging Herb Kohl in 2006, you can buy a Senate Campaign in a Box this week on eBay. Check it out.

A Headline I'd Like to See

As FBI Probes Halliburton, Cheney Flees Continental US

Never happen, though.

Use It

Here's a handy list of Kerry Wisconsin links, including campiagn and rally signs for your consumption.

Thanks to Darci for putting it together!

They did it

And the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel did it surprisingly well:

Endorsement: John Kerry for president

Both presidential candidates are decent men, undeserving of the demonization they’ve endured during this campaign.

That said, there is a clear choice in this election, and that would be John Kerry for president.

Kerry’s record--Vietnam combat vet to anti-war activist to effective U.S. senator--speaks of courage, patriotism and a balanced and thoughtful view of this country, its needs and its role in the world.

It is inescapable, however, that a presidential re-election contest is also a referendum on the incumbent.

Kerry, though not flawless, mostly measures up based on a reasoned look at his record. Regrettably, we find President Bush, though well-intentioned, severely deficient based on his. [. . .]

In the senator, however, we see a reasoned pragmatist with enough intellectual curiosity to lead him to prudent, decisive and well-thought-out action.

Installing someone during war who has never been commander in chief is too risky, the president’s campaign is trying to scare you into believing. But voters can weigh that against what should now be a firm understanding of what they will get in a second Bush term. No risks there. There’s every danger of it being worse than the first.

The hatred directed against this president is largely undeserved. The caricatures and barbs hurled carelessly his way have been decidedly mean-spirited. Many will disagree, but we don’t believe that he has deliberately misled. He has good instincts on connecting with people and on hopes for elevating students through his No Child Left Behind program (chronically underfunded, unfortunately). We even believe that his faith-based initiative, though it has its faults, indicates a big heart. Faith that guides generously but doesn’t dictate to others can be a good thing.

In 2000, we lauded Bush for his ability as Texas governor to work in bipartisan fashion. We admired what seemed to be a tendency to make moderate judicial appointments. We’ve seen precious little of that in his first term as president.

This time around, there is just so much at stake.

There is an ever-evolving economy that must lift more boats, a health care crisis requiring bold solutions, Iran and North Korea posing global threats, an environment that needs more protection than has been given in this term and Supreme Court nominations that will touch just about every policy issue imaginable.

The president is a decent man, yes. On the whole, however, he has been so wrong about so much in such a short time that accountability must kick in at some point.

We’re at that point. John Kerry for president.

In 2000, they wimped out and ran a non-endorsement pro/con piece on Bush and Gore. And this year they were rumored not to be endorsing, either. They may have been swayed by the fact that Kerry made time to sit down with the editorial board, in spite of the rumor, when Bush did not.

Yes, their news content is still regrettably slanted to the right, but this is a very good endorsement that may well swing some moderate fence-sitters. Hats off to the editorial board.

Did I say it was on? Oh, yeah, it's on.

Call to Battle
The Challenger's Opening
My Opening
The Challenger's First Rebuttal
My First Rebuttal
The Challenger's Second Rebuttal
My Second Rebuttal


Keep checking back for more.

It's On

Oh, you'd better believe it's on.

Oh. My. God.

Question: If you knew where Osama bin Laden was--and I'm not saying you do; I'm just speaking hypothetically here--what would you do? Would you go get him, let him be, what?

Well, if you were the Pentagon, apparently, you would just walk away whistling and looking innocent: Jim Lehman, one of them 9/11 Comission guys and a former underling to Colin Powell, says the US knows where bin Laden is. Apparently, he's hiding out in South Waziristan.

So why can't we go? "If we did, we could have another Vietnam, and the United States cannot afford that right now."

Yeah. God forbid we go after a bad man in a far away country in an action that may tie up our army, marines, reserves, budget, political cycle . . .

Fool me once, shame on--Crap.


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And I always thought New Jersey was the armpit of America . . .

Get the fork ready--Michels is done

Last week, I noted how Republican senate candidate Tim Michels felt that polls showing him far behind Everyone's Favorite Senator™, Russ Feingold, were "communistic," including a poll conducted by the Bush-endorsing Chicago Tribune. Today news is out of a St. Norbert College poll putting Russ up by 23 points, at 56-33. (This is the same poll that shows Kerry up by five (48%-43%) here in Wisconsin.)

Michels, despite his self-financed millions, is in his first race for office ever. It's very hard to pull out a US Senate seat if you've never run for anything before, and even harder against a popular maverick with crossover appeal like Russ. (And against someone with Russ's $10 million war chest!) Republicans, including talk-radio blowhards, are already grumbling about how poorly Michels has campaigned, which may be a factor in the NRSC's withdrawing $1.6 million in planned spending for him.

Fellow Milwaukeean Scott at Brewtown Politico notes a Rasmussen poll in the field about the same time as the SNC poll showing only a ten-point lead for Russ, and points out what we've known all along: Russ has crossover appeal, with only 83% of Feingold voters in that poll planning to vote for Kerry. (That makes Kerry's number seem smaller than in Ras's last Wisconsin poll, though that was from September.) At any rate, a strong turnout for Russ and a poor campaign from Michels can really only help Kerry.

That's crazy talk!

"I know I stood up for the principles of objectivity. In journalism, all we have is credibility and objectivity."

- former Sinclair Broadcasting Washington Bureau Chief Jon Leiberman

Why "former"? Because he spoke out against his network's decision to air an hour or more of "news" based on the slanted "documentary," "Stolen Honor."

"They're using news to drive their political agenda," Leiberman said about his bosses. "I don't think it serves the public trust."

Let's keep the pressure on, 'kay?

No news today

Got Indigo Girls tickets. Third row.





Just had to rub that in.

More Republican Liars and Lawbreakers

The Wisconsin State Journal--the more conservative of Madison's two dailies--has broken the story today of Wisconsin's Republicans for Nader. The nut:

At least 16 Republican Party officers and volunteers from across Wisconsin were involved in a secretive signature drive to get presidential candidate Ralph Nader on the ballot by claiming to be supporters and keeping quiet about their GOP affiliations.

Organizers of the covert drive gathered an estimated 3,228 signatures - far more than the 2,000 required to put Nader, an independent, on the Nov. 2 ballot. [. . .] As required by law, each circulator signed a statement on the petition swearing, "I intend to support these candidates." The form warns that anyone submitting false information on the petition could be guilty of a felony.

Some circulators contacted by the State Journal said they had no plans to vote for Nader, but most said they supported his right to be on the ballot--primarily as a way of benefiting Bush. [. . .]

In addition to [UW College Republican Matt] Holsen, the circulators with links to the GOP included volunteers or Republican Party officials from the state headquarters and from the Milwaukee, Eau Claire, Kenosha, Racine, Sheboygan and Winnebago county parties and College Republican chapters at UW-Madison, Marquette, UW-Oshkosh and UW-Eau Claire, the State Journal found.

Among the 119 circulators was attorney and Racine County Republican Party board member Jay K. Nixon, an unsuccessful candidate for circuit court judge this year. The Republican official refused to say whether he planned to vote for Nader, calling it "a personal thing." Nixon said he doesn't recall where he got the petitions or to whom he turned them in. After answering a few questions, Nixon hung up.

At least two of the circulators were elected officials--village of Brown Deer President Margaret Jaberg and Eau Claire County Board member Benjamin Hack, treasurer of the UW-Eau Claire College Republicans. [. . .]

Another of those circulators, UW-Eau Claire student James Taylor, said he and about a dozen college-aged Republicans were asked by a local Republican Party official - whom he wouldn't name - to circulate the petitions but to keep quiet about their party affiliation.

"We were told, 'Don't say anything unless people ask,'" said Taylor, who gathered 34 signatures for Nader. Hack said he doesn't recall receiving such advice.

Taylor said he never planned to vote for Nader and he collected the signatures "because votes for Nader take votes away from Kerry."

In the end, the Nader campaign wisely rejected the signatures gathered by Republicans, but that does not make the Republicans' criminal activity--or at least their lies--any less shameful. Nader has received help from Republicans not just in Wisconsin, but in at least a half-dozen other states. Republicans here in Wisconsin also gave assistance to Nader when state Democrats challenged his ballot status because his campaign didn't follow the rules. (The state supreme court finally rejected Dems' challenge.)

I'm a cynical man by nature, of course, but when the lawbreakers themselves admit that all they wanted to do was suppress the Kerry vote, then you know your party has problems.

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We Win

Or, at least, we've worked out a good compromise. The City of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County will split the cost of printing an additional 260,000 ballots for the Nov. 2 election. In addition, if the city does use the etxra ballots, the County will pay the full cost.

I don't know: Maybe Walker ended up playing us so that we look like whiners and he looks the magnanimous one. I'm not willing to give him that credit, though. As long as everyone gets to vote, I will be happy.

Better (call it) Red than (admit your campaign is) Dead

It's nice to come back from dinner and find a news story like this:

Wisconsin Senate GOP candidate Tim Michels complained Friday about "communistic" polls that he says are skewing results toward his opponent, Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold.

Michels specifically cited a recent Chicago Tribune/WGN poll that reported Feingold with a lead of 57 percent to 33 percent among Wisconsin voters, with 10 percent undecided. Those results were published in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story Friday [scroll to the end].

"What are they polling - just Madison?" Michels said during an appearance on Milwaukee radio station WTMJ's "Midday with Charlie Sykes."

"I call them communistic polls that are coming out," Michels continued.

Indeed, a 24-point spread is probably unrealistic, but every poll save one since the primary has put the race at double digits. The news Thursday of the NRSC pulling its money coupled with the news today that Michels is down 24 points and Feingold topped $10 million for the cycle has got to hurt, really dampen morale. Invoking communism may work to excite a certain part of Michels's base, but it will not help him among the undecideds or persuadables. This race really is over.