by folkbum
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Saturday, May 09, 2009
Fact-free blogging on Gitmo continues
by folkbum
Unable to change course from the old standy of FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt--as opposed to Füd, which is the restaurant inside the Shøp Ikea rip-off in Springfield), the Right has glommed onto President Obama's plan to close down the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. This necessitates moving the 240-ish people left there to somewhere else.
James Wigderson offers the latest fact-free rendition of the talking point: "Nobody wants them here, but that seems to be part of the Obama Administration's plan. And you can't just release them to fight again."
The problem, of course, is that no one is talking about releasing them to fight again, and there is, in fact, at least one place in America that would love to have Gitmo detainees:
However, for a full dispelling of the FUD crowd, I defer to Jon Stewart:
Unable to change course from the old standy of FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt--as opposed to Füd, which is the restaurant inside the Shøp Ikea rip-off in Springfield), the Right has glommed onto President Obama's plan to close down the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. This necessitates moving the 240-ish people left there to somewhere else.
James Wigderson offers the latest fact-free rendition of the talking point: "Nobody wants them here, but that seems to be part of the Obama Administration's plan. And you can't just release them to fight again."
The problem, of course, is that no one is talking about releasing them to fight again, and there is, in fact, at least one place in America that would love to have Gitmo detainees:
President Barack Obama has 240 terror suspects he has said will be moved out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within a year. The city of Hardin [MT] has a brand-new empty jail. [. . .] The development authority in Hardin, a city of 3,400 people bordering the Crow Indian Reservation, built the $27 million, 460-bed jail two years ago and has been looking for tenants ever since. Its construction loans are in default.So it is and will remain false to say that there is "no one" who wants these detainees in their backyards.
The City Council voted 5-0 Tuesday in favor of a resolution supporting a proposal to house terror suspects currently detained at the U.S. naval base in southeast Cuba while they await trial.
However, for a full dispelling of the FUD crowd, I defer to Jon Stewart:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | M - Th 11p / 10c | |||
| Guantanamo Baywatch - The Final Season | ||||
| ||||
Screaming headline decries union thoughtfulness
by folkbum
The federal government is sending a fairly significant chunk of funds toward the Milwaukee Public Schools to be spent over the next two years. This money is part of the so-called "stimulus" package, which is designed to get money into communities, putting people to work and saving jobs--at least until the money runs out after 2011. The theory is that either the economy will be better by then and the jobs will be sustainable, or the projects funded will be temporary or one-time sorts of deals.
One of the district administration's proposed ways to spend the funds--these temporary stimulus funds designed to pay for new jobs or save lost jobs--is apparently to extend the school day for K through 8, upping the pay of K-8 teachers in return.
At first glance, you might think this is the sort of thing the selfish, greedy union bastards would love--more money for us! you might imagine them saying. Well, if your image of the union is that we're a bunch of selfish, greedy bastards then I suppose that makes sense. But that's not actually true of us. Instead, the union has pointed out that this proposal has some problems. Consider:
Seriously, how does that make even a lick of sense?
So, anyway, what's the headline to the story? Is it "Superintendent rejects will of parents and demands more of same"? Is it, "In budget crunch, Superintendent proposes more money to teachers"? No, it's "MPS teachers reject longer day for more pay."
I ask again, how does that even make a lick of sense?
The federal government is sending a fairly significant chunk of funds toward the Milwaukee Public Schools to be spent over the next two years. This money is part of the so-called "stimulus" package, which is designed to get money into communities, putting people to work and saving jobs--at least until the money runs out after 2011. The theory is that either the economy will be better by then and the jobs will be sustainable, or the projects funded will be temporary or one-time sorts of deals.
One of the district administration's proposed ways to spend the funds--these temporary stimulus funds designed to pay for new jobs or save lost jobs--is apparently to extend the school day for K through 8, upping the pay of K-8 teachers in return.
At first glance, you might think this is the sort of thing the selfish, greedy union bastards would love--more money for us! you might imagine them saying. Well, if your image of the union is that we're a bunch of selfish, greedy bastards then I suppose that makes sense. But that's not actually true of us. Instead, the union has pointed out that this proposal has some problems. Consider:
• Jobs saved spending money this way: 0. Jobs created spending money this way: 0.And then the superintendent lays this one on us:
• The funds are temporary; the teachers would take a pay cut in two years, the schedule would change back in two years, or taxpayers would be on the hook for the higher salaries in two years. None of those options sounds reasonable.
• More of the same is just more, not better. The extra time is supposed to be for math instruction, but there's no word on how we're going to better prepare our K-8 teachers--probably almost none of whom have math degrees or expertise in the subject--to be better math teachers.
• Parents thought the idea was a bad one, too, and in fact support union-proposed ideas like smaller classes (which would also be unsustainable with stimulus funds, but at least wouldn't be more of the same) and finding ways to get disruptive students out of classrooms.
In an interview, Andrekopoulos said he was concerned that employees are not acting like they will be part of solving the spending problems.Whoa Nelly! The union is the one wanting to spend money? Let's look at what the proposal from the administration said again, just a few paragraphs earlier in the story:
"If they are not part of the solution, there isn't a place for them to have jobs in the future," Andrekopoulos said. "People have to get to the place where they realize there isn't going to be more money here."
The MPS chief said Thursday night that the union rejected adding 25 minutes to the school day for teaching math at all elementary and kindergarten-through-eighth grade schools. The union also rejected a proposal that would give all teachers six additional hours a month to work on improving programs in their schools. In both cases, teachers would have been paid for the additional time in line with their hourly rate of pay.The administration wants to pay 4,000+ K-8 teachers for an extra 2.5 hours a week; the administration wants to pay all 6,000+ teachers in the district for an extra six hours a month of planning time; and the union is somehow the side in this that doesn't understand there's no money to spend?
Seriously, how does that make even a lick of sense?
So, anyway, what's the headline to the story? Is it "Superintendent rejects will of parents and demands more of same"? Is it, "In budget crunch, Superintendent proposes more money to teachers"? No, it's "MPS teachers reject longer day for more pay."
I ask again, how does that even make a lick of sense?
Friday, May 08, 2009
Shorter James T. Harris
by folkbum
Your black president hasn't created utopia yet, and we've already given him, like 100 days, so FAIL, and I hate Colin Powell.
("Shorter" concept created by Daniel Davies, perfected by Elton Beard, and awesometized by Sadly, No!.)
Your black president hasn't created utopia yet, and we've already given him, like 100 days, so FAIL, and I hate Colin Powell.
("Shorter" concept created by Daniel Davies, perfected by Elton Beard, and awesometized by Sadly, No!.)
by folkbumThursday, May 07, 2009
It's Like Being Dumped by Newman
By Keith R. Schmitz
Sam "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher, told TIME Magazine that he's so outraged by GOP overspending, he's quitting the party.
Sam "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher, told TIME Magazine that he's so outraged by GOP overspending, he's quitting the party.
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Fine Whine
By Keith R. Schmitz
Off the Wisconsin GOP web site:
The fact that we have 70M people out of work in the private sector has little to do with having 13M working in the public sector. Many other factors contributed to that job loss, including a good measure of GOP policies.
As in all bad recessions the government becomes the employer and purchaser of last resort. To listen to these acolytes of Grover Norquist would make the situation much worse. Except for the teabaggers, the American public at least knows better.
Off the Wisconsin GOP web site:
Campaigning for governor, Jim Doyle promised to eliminate 10,000 state government jobs. To date, the administration has actually taken on an extra 3,000 jobs since Doyle took office. On the other hand, the private sector has LOST 69,4000 jobs on Doyle's watch.Let's unravel this logic. We have lost nearly 70,ooo jobs in Wisconsin. The state GOP wants the state to throw 10,000 or even 13,000 of their employees out on the street?
The fact that we have 70M people out of work in the private sector has little to do with having 13M working in the public sector. Many other factors contributed to that job loss, including a good measure of GOP policies.
As in all bad recessions the government becomes the employer and purchaser of last resort. To listen to these acolytes of Grover Norquist would make the situation much worse. Except for the teabaggers, the American public at least knows better.
What's that smell? Nothing! Yippee!
by folkbumOf course, it's not final yet, but Wisconsin is all set to give up the title of Ashtray of the Midwest. However, it sounds like the compromises are such that it is likely to pass and be signed into law.
And not a moment too soon. One of the most frustrating things about trying to live the cosmopolitan life here in the big city is the risk of reeking of smoke just because I wanted to some tasty food or to hang out with friends or colleagues. I call this a WIN!
(Ashtray image "borrowed" from here.)
Developments show McKinsey & Co. audit of MPS not a dragonslayer
by folkbum
I was asked last night about whether there really seemed to be a lot of "consternation" about the McKinsey & Co. audit completed last month of the finances of the Milwaukee Public Schools, and I suggested that no, in fact, there wasn't. There were some documentable errors in the report, for example, and the report seemed to be a bit out if date, in that some of the things it suggested MPS do are things MPS is already working on--like selling unused properties, implementing "performance-based" budgeting and re-centralizing of purchasing functions.
And it may well be that I don't really have my finger on the pulse of community or institutional sentiment about the report, and so I'm missing a flurry of something somewhere; or it may be that the swine flu hysteria has overshadowed hysteria over the audit.
But the MPS Board of Directors' Strategic Planning and Budget Committee meeting last night suggests that I'm right:
First, the audit's findings were not so bad that Doyle and Barrett had reason to immediately call for a takeover of the district (see my earlier post here). The audit was able to cobble together $100 million a year in potential savings. That sounds like a lot of money--and it is!--but it is less than 10% of the overall MPS budget and a significant part of that savings came from foisting MPS workers onto the state dole for health care, which is not exactly the kind of thing that will save the state any money. If the audit had identified a larger number, or if it had identified $100m in pure waste as opposed to family-supporting wages and beniefits, then the report might well have given Doyle and Barrett impetus to act more forcefully and more quickly.
Second, perhaps more importantly, the audit is incredibly sympathetic toward MPS. The authors of the report make it clear that MPS faces tremendous budget pressures from many different directions--rapidly declining enrollment, a screwed-up state funding formula, an expensive health-care market in Southeast Wisconsin, and more--and that even if the audit's full recommendations are followed, MPS will still face significant budget crunches not very far down the road. While the audit does suggest that MPS needs an attitude adjustment when it comes to finances and reform, it also is pretty clear that reality will overtake the district whether administration gets ruthless (in some cases, heartless) in budgeting and collective bargaining or not.
In other words, even if Doyle or Barrett or the Milwaukee Common Council or some other institution takes over MPS, there still have to be significant changes external to MPS to make the district's finances viable long-term. Whoever is running MPS in two years will find themselves making the same arguments and facing the same difficult choices that the current board does now. I imagine that it's that reality that is keeping Doyle and Barrett far away, at least in public, from putting their own names on the line over MPS finances.
(NOTE: Thursday night, May 7, is the regular MPS Strategic Planning and Budget Committee meeting. The committee will consider the superintendent's proposed budget for the 2009-2010 school year. See the SPB agenda here (.pdf); find the budget documents here. If you have comments you want to make, this is your big chance.)
I was asked last night about whether there really seemed to be a lot of "consternation" about the McKinsey & Co. audit completed last month of the finances of the Milwaukee Public Schools, and I suggested that no, in fact, there wasn't. There were some documentable errors in the report, for example, and the report seemed to be a bit out if date, in that some of the things it suggested MPS do are things MPS is already working on--like selling unused properties, implementing "performance-based" budgeting and re-centralizing of purchasing functions.
And it may well be that I don't really have my finger on the pulse of community or institutional sentiment about the report, and so I'm missing a flurry of something somewhere; or it may be that the swine flu hysteria has overshadowed hysteria over the audit.
But the MPS Board of Directors' Strategic Planning and Budget Committee meeting last night suggests that I'm right:
A financial audit of Milwaukee Public Schools released last month that pointed to waste in the system and calls for reform from state and city leaders failed to produce the same kind of urgency Tuesday night at a School Board committee meeting.Not that I necessarily expect the governor himself to show up to an MPS board meeting, but the meeting was called specifically to discuss the audit (here's the agenda in .pdf form, including Terry Falk's letter to Doyle et al.) and you'd think that the people who demanded the audit would at least send a contingent to make their views and recommendations known to the board. But the fact that no one was there, and the fact that the big committee that is supposed to act in a non-binding oversight capacity on the MPS budget to ensure compliance with the audit's recommendations hasn't formed or met yet, just reinforces my belief that the audit was not the dragonslayer Doyle and Barrett hoped it would be.
An overview of the report was the topic of the meeting, but missing from the discussion were Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Gov. Jim Doyle and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Elizabeth Burmaster, all of whom Terry Falk, the chair of the Committee on Strategic Planning and Budget, had invited to talk to committee members. [. . .]
According to David Guran, one of the few residents who showed up to testify about the audit, the mayor's office said Tuesday that no meeting had yet been set for the MPS Innovation and Improvement Advisory Council that was supposed to form last month.
First, the audit's findings were not so bad that Doyle and Barrett had reason to immediately call for a takeover of the district (see my earlier post here). The audit was able to cobble together $100 million a year in potential savings. That sounds like a lot of money--and it is!--but it is less than 10% of the overall MPS budget and a significant part of that savings came from foisting MPS workers onto the state dole for health care, which is not exactly the kind of thing that will save the state any money. If the audit had identified a larger number, or if it had identified $100m in pure waste as opposed to family-supporting wages and beniefits, then the report might well have given Doyle and Barrett impetus to act more forcefully and more quickly.
Second, perhaps more importantly, the audit is incredibly sympathetic toward MPS. The authors of the report make it clear that MPS faces tremendous budget pressures from many different directions--rapidly declining enrollment, a screwed-up state funding formula, an expensive health-care market in Southeast Wisconsin, and more--and that even if the audit's full recommendations are followed, MPS will still face significant budget crunches not very far down the road. While the audit does suggest that MPS needs an attitude adjustment when it comes to finances and reform, it also is pretty clear that reality will overtake the district whether administration gets ruthless (in some cases, heartless) in budgeting and collective bargaining or not.
In other words, even if Doyle or Barrett or the Milwaukee Common Council or some other institution takes over MPS, there still have to be significant changes external to MPS to make the district's finances viable long-term. Whoever is running MPS in two years will find themselves making the same arguments and facing the same difficult choices that the current board does now. I imagine that it's that reality that is keeping Doyle and Barrett far away, at least in public, from putting their own names on the line over MPS finances.
(NOTE: Thursday night, May 7, is the regular MPS Strategic Planning and Budget Committee meeting. The committee will consider the superintendent's proposed budget for the 2009-2010 school year. See the SPB agenda here (.pdf); find the budget documents here. If you have comments you want to make, this is your big chance.)
Congrats to John Dickert
by folkbum
Way way way way way back in the day, when I was just starting as a blogger and was one of a handful of volunteer point people for the Howard Dean campaign in Wisconsin, John Dickert, Mark Goff and I had breakfast one morning at a Perkins to strategize about bringing the Dean campaign full force here in Wisconsin. He seemed like a good guy then, and I hope he does well as Racine's mayor now.
Way way way way way back in the day, when I was just starting as a blogger and was one of a handful of volunteer point people for the Howard Dean campaign in Wisconsin, John Dickert, Mark Goff and I had breakfast one morning at a Perkins to strategize about bringing the Dean campaign full force here in Wisconsin. He seemed like a good guy then, and I hope he does well as Racine's mayor now.
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Monday, May 04, 2009
Daytime TV
by folkbum
I'm pretty sure I just heard Oprah say, "We scored a hook up for every person in America." I don't watch enough daytime TV to know whether that means what I think it means, but I may have to TiVo her show tomorrow to find out.
I'm pretty sure I just heard Oprah say, "We scored a hook up for every person in America." I don't watch enough daytime TV to know whether that means what I think it means, but I may have to TiVo her show tomorrow to find out.
Future Very Cloudy for Clear Channel
By Keith R. Schmitz
Looks like the economy might be swallowing another media entity, this time Clear Channel.
As we all know, this is the parent of WISN, home of such local screamers as Mark Belling and Vick McKenna.
Having laid off 2,810 employees since January and in debt to the tune of a whopping $22 billion, the former scourge of the Dixie Chicks is seriously taking on water. On a more ominous note, Clear Channel is dropping the Arbitron radio rating service.
The rest of the traditional media in serious trouble with the announcement today that the Boston Globe may be shutting down, though the self-aggrandizing hunger on the part of Clear Channel management for acquisitions might have fueled their problems. Hopefully this is a lesson for the future, though it is probably doubtful once things get back to a semblance of normal.
No wonder we have such a gloomy picture being painted about this economy with the messengers, liberal and conservative alike, feeling the effects much sharper than in previous downturns thanks to the new media.
Looks like the economy might be swallowing another media entity, this time Clear Channel.
As we all know, this is the parent of WISN, home of such local screamers as Mark Belling and Vick McKenna.
Having laid off 2,810 employees since January and in debt to the tune of a whopping $22 billion, the former scourge of the Dixie Chicks is seriously taking on water. On a more ominous note, Clear Channel is dropping the Arbitron radio rating service.
The rest of the traditional media in serious trouble with the announcement today that the Boston Globe may be shutting down, though the self-aggrandizing hunger on the part of Clear Channel management for acquisitions might have fueled their problems. Hopefully this is a lesson for the future, though it is probably doubtful once things get back to a semblance of normal.
No wonder we have such a gloomy picture being painted about this economy with the messengers, liberal and conservative alike, feeling the effects much sharper than in previous downturns thanks to the new media.
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Saturday, May 02, 2009
Catholics and Obama at Notre Dame
By Keith R. Schmitz
The right wing bloggers are of course bloviating over Notre Dame's invitation to President Obama to address their graduating class this year. The Fighting Irish must have thought they were an open-minded university or something. But boys will be boys and the righties have to have SOMETHING to complain about.
As usual, the media based on their occasional laziness or in the spirit of fake balance, are mistaking all this heat for light.
Turns out according to a recent Pew study, most Catholics are not so steamed and almost most have heard nothing about it. For good measure, as for the prime issue that conservative Catholics want to bar Obama over -- abortion; turns out mainstream Catholic opinion is in the mainstream.
Betcha we'll get one response that these are not real Catholics.
The right wing bloggers are of course bloviating over Notre Dame's invitation to President Obama to address their graduating class this year. The Fighting Irish must have thought they were an open-minded university or something. But boys will be boys and the righties have to have SOMETHING to complain about.
As usual, the media based on their occasional laziness or in the spirit of fake balance, are mistaking all this heat for light.
Turns out according to a recent Pew study, most Catholics are not so steamed and almost most have heard nothing about it. For good measure, as for the prime issue that conservative Catholics want to bar Obama over -- abortion; turns out mainstream Catholic opinion is in the mainstream.
Betcha we'll get one response that these are not real Catholics.
Friday, May 01, 2009
Not Innoculated Against Stupidity
By Keith R. Schmitz
Who knows how bad the Swine Flu invasion will eventually be? Are people being crazed about the prospect of a plague sweeping the country or right acting like too much is being made about this?
Nevertheless like many things politics pokes in.
With the debate we've been having over sick pay in the metro area this argument takes on a new complexion. The United States and Milwaukee in particular has no state mandated policy on sick pay. Here's where this issue could hit home.
In other countries when a worker starts to feel the aches and sniffles that may indicate the onset of that or another disease, there isn't this agonizing decision about staying home or dragging through a day or two of work.
Here, many people have to suck it up. Remember the lozenge commercial that ran recently of a woman working the frozen food aisle and an officer blows into the scene out of no where. Dumb concept, but the woman pleads the to fantasy officer that she's sick. But this is America, land of having to drag your sorry behind through the shift. And she's handling food.
There will be countless people that many people who we could encountering through this health incident handling our food, making our beds, taking care of our elderly parents. None of them can take the recommended three days off when symptoms become present, or if members of their family because this would be bad for business.
The Swine Flu outbreak could be overblown. Or, if you want something that is bad for business, this is it.
Who knows how bad the Swine Flu invasion will eventually be? Are people being crazed about the prospect of a plague sweeping the country or right acting like too much is being made about this?
Nevertheless like many things politics pokes in.
With the debate we've been having over sick pay in the metro area this argument takes on a new complexion. The United States and Milwaukee in particular has no state mandated policy on sick pay. Here's where this issue could hit home.
In other countries when a worker starts to feel the aches and sniffles that may indicate the onset of that or another disease, there isn't this agonizing decision about staying home or dragging through a day or two of work.
Here, many people have to suck it up. Remember the lozenge commercial that ran recently of a woman working the frozen food aisle and an officer blows into the scene out of no where. Dumb concept, but the woman pleads the to fantasy officer that she's sick. But this is America, land of having to drag your sorry behind through the shift. And she's handling food.
There will be countless people that many people who we could encountering through this health incident handling our food, making our beds, taking care of our elderly parents. None of them can take the recommended three days off when symptoms become present, or if members of their family because this would be bad for business.
The Swine Flu outbreak could be overblown. Or, if you want something that is bad for business, this is it.
PRSG Saturday--songs galore
by folkbum
Don't forget that tomorrow night, the Portage Road Songwriters Guild presents its annual new song concert. 5Ws:
Don't forget that tomorrow night, the Portage Road Songwriters Guild presents its annual new song concert. 5Ws:
Who: Me, Eric Baer, Chris Head, Mark Plotkin, Chris Straw (of the Moxie Chicks), and Barb Webber (of Fair Webber).
What: Showing off the best of the songs we've written over the past year.
When: Saturday, May 2, 8 PM. (Get there early for good seats!)
Where: The Coffee House, at 19th and Wisconsin in Milwaukee.
Why: Because it will be awesome. A full evening's entertainment for just $5.
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