Wisco Disco

2007-12-22T08:13:00.000-08:00

Should kids start wearing sledding helmets?
Yeah, probably.
Anyway, the best place to sled on the Northside is not at the Old Sanitarium (Health and Human Services Building) even though from the street it looks like a good ride.
It's a long, slow ride and takes forever to climb back up and if you do manage to get any speed, which you probably wont, there's nothing but a chain link fence at the bottom to stop you.
(Enter Helmet)
The best place to sled up here is on the man-made hill behind Warner Park's Dog Park. It's in the back and not a lot of people go there. You can go down the sledding hill which is really steep , but curves back up to stop your sled from going on forever and thus making for a long up-hill walk, but also there's a short hill going the other way for kiddies or if you're just trying out a snowboard for the first time.
It also has a clearly designated Sledding area vs. Climbing-back-up area to avoid accidents.

Good Times.

2007-12-21T21:13:00.000-08:00

1. I'm sick of call-in shows on the radio where people say that Obama just can't win the election because "other people" are too racist to vote for a black man. Zogby says they're wrong.
(Obama wont win due to lack of experience. It's not exactly going to be Alan Keyes he's running agianst.)
2. I'm against anything that has the words "Stephen" and "Nass" and "Education" in them together.
An attorney general's opinion declaring it unconstitutional to block student transfers from one district to another on the basis of race could have far-reaching implications for the Madison school district.
I can see the point that race shouldn't be an exclusive eliminating factor in preventing students from taking advantage of the open enrollment program, but there has to be some socio-economic balance and The People tend to not do it themselves. (See Sun Prairie.)
In the long run, why would voters approve funding for schools when their kids aren't even going there (it's bad enough that senior citizens who have long since forgotten their own free education have a huge say in what is spent on our schools) and why would a district make any effort to correct racial imbalances when they can get state subsidies for taking on the elite of another district?
There should be a new financial incentive to keep schools integrated racially and economically, or maybe they should have to make a fair trade. Student for student.
3.A group of youths followed a bus rider home Thursday night and robbed him of his cell phone and a Sony Playstation at gunpoint, police said.
Why would you take a Playstation on the bus?
4. The DNR could try a little harder to get people to stop driving during a Air Quality Alert Day.

2007-12-21T07:23:00.000-08:00

I know this isn't Madison, but it's a close suburb to the north, and Sun Prairie is the fastest growing city in Wisconsin and in an age where school closings consolidations and funding are a constant issue for all communities I think it's really important to pay attention to what's going on when any community has this kind of a debate.
SUN PRAIRIE -- Sun Prairie residents are weighing whether, as students around the district are shuffled to fill a new elementary school, the make-up of a school with a lot of poor children should get an extra shake-up.
I understand when parents don't want their children to have to go to different schools or go to a different school than the kids down the block, but when you live in the fastest growing city in Wisconsin, that's bound ot happen. Property was cheap for a while during the housing boom, so there has to be room for adjustment.

Robin and Denny Ehrler, whose children, including a special needs third-grader, would shift to Westside, said they are against moving to the school because it is dirty and poorly maintained
But that's not what the majority of opponents are complaining about. They don't want their children to go to school with poor or minority kids.
The Ehrlers also argued that the self-esteem of poor Westside children may be harmed if they are further mixed with children from wealthier neighborhoods. And the Ehrlers predicted property values will drop.

Nice. Well at least they're honest about it.

2007-12-13T10:53:00.000-08:00

Cynthia McKinney comes to Madison

McKinney has been a frequent critic of the Iraq war and President Bush's leadership. When in Congress, she introduced measures to impeach Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. She has also been a critic of Pentagon spending and the agency's mismanagement of funds...

Her press conference Tuesday drew about 30 people, including Green Party members and those who, as part of the "9/11 truth movement," question the official explanation for the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center.

She said she was "excoriated" and "vilified" by the mainstream media when she asked in Congress "What did the administration know and when did it know it?"

2007-11-13T14:50:00.000-08:00

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Savers lost: East-side thrift store closes after 10 years

Reasons why this is horroble news:
1. If you live on the North Side or the Near East or even just drive downtown from the East side and don't want to go travel long distances, spend gas, or you want to support the local economy to buy clothing/furniture/dishware/toys/everything you just lost your #1 option in my opnion.
2. The timing was suspiciously close to that of the opening of Super Hellmart, people who shopped at Savers for economic reasons may go to Hellmart instead!
3. A Family Dollar store just opened next door to the Savers, it was a perfect match!
4. The East Towne Salvation Army closed only a few months ago so now your thrift store options on the East Side are even more limited to;
A. Good Will. I'm all for non profits, but Good Will is on the really expensive side of used clothing and furniture, and there is not a lot of wiggle room, like sales or lower prices for lower quality, it's all $7.99 for jeans, $3.99 for a shirt $1.99 for kids stuff. People can do just as well at Target or Shopko.
B. St Vinnies. It's great if you already live there and are just walking or it's on your bus route but parking-not so great with kids and the selection is really really really picked over and again prices just aren't as good as they were at Savers or S.A.

It's a sad sad day, and just in time for winter. I'll be Madison Freecycling for sweaters for the kids this year.

2007-11-07T13:52:00.000-08:00

Tammy Baldwin is doing Wisconsin proud by being one of the 56 cosponsors of Dennis Kucinich's HR333.
Also co-sponsoring(of note) is Steve Kagen, another Wisconsin representative from up nort., and Bobby Jindal, the republican Congressman from Louisianna who just won his state's run for Governor on an anti-corruption platform. Which I don't totally understand.

2007-11-06T20:26:00.000-08:00

Sun Prairie voters FINALLY approve new High School, they voted to split the students between 9th and 10th grades at the old school, and 11th and 12th at a new school.
Sun Prairie is a very tight-knit community and this method of expanding the high schools is supposed to keep students together, while giving them more space.
The other questions on the referendum referred to building pools, which did not pass.
One $100 million vote at a time, I guess.

2007-09-21T10:18:00.001-07:00

Living in America
This kindof crazy gunman shit happens every day all over the country and only makes headlines IF soneone is killed, or more like if two or more people are shot.

For example, just yesterday in suburbia Wisconsin where I work, I had to have an armed-flaked police escort to my van because there was a crazy person with a gun hiding behind the hockey rink I was parked in front of.
Nice.
I'll put in my 4 year old's baby book under "First involvement with a Swat Team".

But the real terror threat in the US is that there are "too many mosques". Prepare to be "infiltrated".

2007-09-05T14:03:00.000-07:00

Impeachment doesn't pass city council, what a waste. I like how Pham-Remmele gives all the reasons to vote for impeachment as her arguemnt against doing anything because congress isn't really going to listen to us anyway. Oh andI like how she calls the pro-Impeachment activists "Jane Fonda standing with the communists."
She threatened to resign from her position if the council voted for recommending Impeachment, so we lost on more than one count.
Michael Schumacher, for whom I didn't vote but by whom I am represented, didn't vote on the issue. Wuss.

2007-09-03T18:20:00.000-07:00

I'm lovin this post by Badgerblues. Many of my West highs School classmates have moved to Texas and I often want to ask..."why?"
I talked to a friend who had lived there about a decade, then moved to Lesotho, about how everyone we went to high school was moving to Texas and she said..."why?"

2007-09-03T18:11:00.000-07:00

OOh, John Edwards just shot up on my radar, perhaps past Kucinich.
Crooks and liars-read the rest
John Edwards; "No more secret prisons, No more torture, no more condoning of torture"
That's what I'm talking about.

2007-09-02T08:26:00.000-07:00

I can't guess why Madison Magazine had to rank all the high schools in Dane County. Especially since the biggest factor for them seemed to be the poverty Index, which isn't really something the school is responsible for. Maybe it's the 80% graduation rate, but I think the rate of poverty should be factored in and should actually boost it's rating since with all that is against kids at East High, their ACT scores aren't that bad and they offer more AP classes than all the other scholls, and their teachers have the most advanced degrees of any area high school, including private ones.
I just think it wasn't judged fairly, although I don't know how one could fairly judge it.
At the back of that issue, there is an editorial byJohn Roach, Edgewood High School graduate who has a plan for the budget problems at Madison Public Schools: better PTA fundraisers, includeing Bingo games and raffle tickets.
I emailed him to politely explain-as a PTA Treasurer- that that doens't put the schools at a fair playing field. And that that wasn't something he should know, because I, a West-sider by birth, was shocked to find how hard it was to raise funds in a poor school myself. I told him that all the parents and community that flooded the school at functions that weren't fundraiseres were absent at any fundraising activity so it wasn't because they weren't involved in the school, the money just wasnt' there.
He emailed me back to say that he didn't really believe that the money "just wasn't there" and that "poverty is no excuse for apathy".
Dayum!
I think he needs a reality check. What makes him an authority on poverty? Must be his conversations with Lauren Bacall or his education at Edgewood-wait, he spent one year at Randall, maybe University Heights was a rough neighborhood back in the day.

2007-07-11T14:30:00.000-07:00

The Northside has been experiencing huge surge of car stereo and equipment theft this summer. People have even reported small change taken out of cup holders when their cars are left out on the street.
A neighbor had his stereo expertly removed not cutting any wires or anything, it was on the same night that I had left an mp3 player in my car in the driveway and was still there in the morning.
Apparently the tech at Best Buy said that was the 3rd car stereo he sold to a Northsider that week.
It's not missing/murdered 22 year old women, but I think it bears mention.

2007-06-13T11:51:00.001-07:00

What ever happened to the cicadas?
I was promised millions and millions of cicadas!

2007-06-05T19:21:00.000-07:00

The arrests in California Monday of Gen. Vang Pao and eight others for plotting to topple the communist government of Laos sent shock waves through last night's Madison school board meeting and threw into doubt whether the decision to name the city's newest elementary school for Vang Pao will hold.

Ya think?
I think Prof. McCoy has been vindicated!
He's so dreamy(McCoy, I mean!)

2007-06-05T19:17:00.000-07:00

This music is called Bon Iver. Its French, and spelled wrong on purpose. No one really needs silent H's. So say it; Bon (as in 'bon' voyage) Iver (e-ver). Bon Iver. You got it.

It was made on a pilgrimage to the woods of northwestern wisconsin. With only guns, venison, firewood, a sears typewriter, and ancient musical equiptment.

Beautiful Wisconsin Music.
Skinny Love mp3

2007-05-29T14:07:00.000-07:00

Cindy resigns.

Good for her, she deserves a break, this can serve as a wake-up call for the rest of us to get of our collective arses and try to get heard.

2007-05-24T14:42:00.000-07:00

I can't say I'm suprised that the Dems are backing down to Bush, it seems like such a waste of an opportunity. If not now, when, October?
Useless.
At least they're finally adressing the minimum wage.
The thing is that the Democrats are really no different than Republicans when it comes down to it, unless you're Russ Feingold* or *Dennis Kussenich, and even then...
Come to the light...

2007-05-24T14:26:00.000-07:00

2007-05-15T20:08:00.000-07:00

Kick-ass Crimefighter Principle of the year award goes to Sandra Gunderson of Mendota Elementary.
You go girl!!

2007-05-14T19:05:00.000-07:00

The School Board has reversed their decision to consolidate Marquett and Lapham. (I saw it on Fox 47 at 9, I know, Sean Ryan, ew!)

2007-05-14T18:37:00.000-07:00

Tommy Thompson has nothing against The Gays, he just really had to poop!
"Nobody knows that," Thompson said. "I've been very sick. I was very sick the day of the debate. I had all of the problems with the flu and bronchitis that you have, including running to the bathroom. I was just hanging on. I could not wait until the debate got off so I could go to the bathroom."

2007-05-07T19:33:00.000-07:00

By Brenda Konkol's math, closing Marquette Elementary only saved $81,000.
Some Marquette parents are upset that their school was closed instead of terminating the strings program, but I don't see it that way, strings and all music programs are really important, especially in schools where parents may not be able to afford private lessons.
The answer is not for the school board to move small amounts of money around, but to change the way it is funded. Otherwise we're just sticking fingers in different parts of the dam and arguing over where we stick them.

2007-05-05T18:26:00.000-07:00

From my TWF mailing list:

Dr. Kevin Barrett, the University of Wisconsin lecturer"hounded by Steve Nass and 61 state legislators, and handed a death threat by Bill OReilly" was denied a tenure-track position at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewateris heading for Casablanca, Morocco to interview still-living 9/11 "hijacker" Waleed al-Shehri.

Waleed says the 9/11 Commission's photo and biography are his, and that he's the guy who trained in Daytona Beach.

Osama Bin Laden's role in 9/11 remains unconfirmed. Rex Tomb, the FBI's Chief of Investigative Publicity, is reported to have said, "the FBI has no hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11."

FULL TEXT, SOURCES, ETC. at http://911sig.blogspot.com/

2007-05-02T19:45:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a really wonderful May Day.

The big Northside deal is that we kept our schools...for another year...until the budget needs to be cut again.
Obviously the system that funds the schools is flawed, it shouldn't be connected to property taxes.
But the cap needs to be eliminated altogether, otherwise the cycle of cutting something every year will never end.
What gets cut next?
I was shocked to hear that at East only one foreign language is taught. I went to West 15 years ago and we had five.
Who wants to live in a city where the kids have to pay to go to chess club and can only take Spanish? I know that having kids makes one think that anything kid related should be on the top of the list, but it's not really fair that I got to take French, the English classes of my own choice, it was free to work on yearbook and I could be on the swim team and go to sporting events for a reasonable fee, yet my own kids just a few years later wont.

Isn't Jim Doyle supposed to be an Education Guy?

It may be a good thing in the end that some of the most affected people were parents who send their kids to Marquette, they come across as a generally well-educated and politically-minded group of people. Maybe they can get motivated to really bring attention to the problems with school funding. Besides, Marquette was rumored ot have a very unpopular principle and in the end those kids are probably going to do fine in life anyway.
Listen to me, I sound like Barbara Bush "This is working out quite well for them!"

2007-04-22T08:32:00.000-07:00

From: Alyssa Kenney <ackenney@yahoo.com>

Date: April 20, 2007 7:10:30 PM CDT

To: ackenney@yahoo.com

Subject: [northsidediscuss] You are Invited - Walk From Kennedy Heights to Gompers Monday at 4:00

Kennedy Heights Community Center with the support of many other individuals and groups is organizing a walk from Kennedy Heights Community Center to Gompers Elementary School to raise awareness about the potential closings of Lindbergh Elementary School and Black Hawk middle school. Neighborhood Schools are a community resource for the children and families in Kennedy Heights and the northside; closing the schools would negatively impact our neighborhood, our community center, and the families that live here. Please come and walk with us to keep northside schools open.

The walk will start at the Kennedy Heights Community Center at 4:00 PM on Monday April 23rd - we will walk together from Kennedy Heights to Gompers Elementary school about 1.3 miles. At Gompers their will be a brief discussion and Popsicles for kids. All are welcome please distribute widely.

Sincerely,

Alyssa Kenney

PS I know that school board members have a meeting at 5:00 PM, but I hope you can join us for the beginning of our walk.

2007-04-20T17:48:00.000-07:00

Hello,

In response to the current cuts in Madison schools and the statewide school funding crisis, several Lowell Elementary parents (supported by the Lowell Home School Association (LHSA), are organizing an afternoon of family visits with our legislators to let them know we want them to prioritize changing the way education is funded in Wisconsin.

We will be meeting in the Capitol Rotunda on Wednesday, April 25th at 3:30 with children in tow and going to the offices of our state representatives to urge them to make school funding reform their foremost priority.

We would like to invite other parents, community members and school organizations to join us and make this an early first step in organizing a larger movement to reform school funding in Wisconsin. Please help spread the word by circulating this email or putting up a copy of the leaflet in your community.

Also attached is an information sheet on school funding which we've been circulating at Lowell. Feel free to use it as you see fit.

Hope to see you there,

Jack and Mindy Trudell, Lynn Welch and Jill Jacklitz

Lowell Elementary Parents

For more info contact Lynn at 242-9355, Jill at 249-4377 or email Jack @ mjtrudell@charter.net

2007-04-18T17:08:00.000-07:00

So life on the Northside is on hold until the School Board makes a decision on April 30th if they will close/combine our schools, or maybe just put it off until next February and have a referendum there.
I think a referendum would be just about the most depressing thing they could do for us, and if you think people vote the "right" way once they are in the privacy of the voting booth then maybe you should take another look at the Gay Marriage results from last fall. All the old ladies in our neighborhood will be voting against this hypothetical referendum, cackling as they leave the poling place "And yer little dog, too!!".
I just wish there would be more long term planning than only three years in the future, currently there is no stability, even when they don't close your school.

It's hard to be surprised about the Virginia Tech shootings when these are the people in our neighborhood, I think that torture is worse than cold-blooded killing, but that's just my opinion. I think this story has made me feel more unsafe than I have been made to feel in a long time, it almost makes one nostalgic for the days of vigilante justice where a posse would just pull these people out of the jail and take care of it themselves.
Almost.

2007-04-05T13:45:00.000-07:00

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit has reversed the convictions of Georgia Thompson and ordered her released from prison, according to the US Attorney's office in Milwaukee.
One point for Gov Doyle, I guess.

2007-04-04T14:58:00.000-07:00

Seven out of fourteen Green Party candidates win elections throughout Wisconsin

So that's the good news, oh and and Satya beat the smoker stick that in your pipe and, oh nevermind. I was pretty impressed with the numbers for Jon Becker, even though he lost by hundreds of voters. There's hope.
However, Michael Schumacher and Thuy Pham-Remmele prove that cheap yard signs are really really important. Oh and Ziegler, ew!
"Today, I think the voters made clear that they reject negative campaigns and that those don't work and that instead they want someone who's a judge and who's practiced criminal law," said Ziegler, 43, a former assistant U.S. attorney.
but wait, read further...

The race saw unprecedented spending by third parties. Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state's largest business lobby, spent $1.45 million on ads supporting Ziegler and criticizing Clifford, according to Clifford's campaign.

Meanwhile, the Democratic-leaning Greater Wisconsin Committee spent more than $300,000 on ads criticizing Ziegler.

2007-04-03T12:47:00.000-07:00

For what it's worth, when I voted at Lindbergh School at 2pm I was number 330.

I believe Schumacher will win in a landslide on the North side, and yet that Satya will also win.
Schumacher ran on a platform of the number one issue for many, maybe most of the Norhtsiders; lower property taxes. It was in the onslaught of glossy campaign lit, it was in messages on our answering machine. "By broadening our tax base", which on the Northside means by building condos in the Cherokee Marsh.
Equally as frusterating is that our hero, Jon Becker, had all the right endorsements, but kept his campaign strategy fixated on Environment Environment Environment. Which is noble, and yet doenst' really speak to the Oscar Meyer widows who predominantly fill our neighborhood and rarely leave the house except to vote.

These people need to be thinned from the herd, they are ruining everything. If you are 115 years old and spend your life peering out the window everytime a service truck pulls into one of your neighbor's driveways and calling into the Cap Times Soundoff to complain about other people's cats, you don't need a back yard. You don't need three bedrooms and a finnished rec-room in the basement. You probably don't even need a garage. Your mortgage was paid off in 1993 and your entire Social Security check, or more accurately that of your former husband's is going to the $3,000 of property taxes you complain so much about and hiring the teenager down the street to shovel your driveway that you don't use and mow your yard that you don't use. If you paid $16,000 for that one-level ranch in 1962, it's worth at least ten times that now, so cash in and get out.

Move to one of those 7 million empty condos in the city, you are a burden to society.

And leave the cats alone.

Michael Schumacher is too sexy for those post-its.

2007-04-02T19:39:00.000-07:00

In Madison, it's all about special interest money,
From Saturday's Cap Times...
Michael Schumacher, who is running against Jon Becker this year for the seat Ald. Paul Van Rooy is vacating in north side District 18, said that the idea of running a council race for $5,000 now is unreasonable. Schumacher said his experience as a first-time candidate running against another first-time candidate was that printing costs alone make it impossible. He said he had not expected to spend $1,500 on yard signs, but he has.

Mailing costs have also been a problem for Schumacher. Postage several times came up $300 more than expected, he said. Postcard mailing fees increased in order to get mailings with type big enough for elderly residents to read easily.

Schumacher said his total war chest of $10,716 is not what he hopes he will really be spending because it includes $2,000 of his own money that he hopes he can repay to himself when the election is over.

Schumacher's opponent also loaned $1,500 of his own money to his campaign but that only brings Becker's fundraising total to $7,857.

Special interest money: The $2,859 difference in their fundraising levels is more than accounted for by the fact that Becker has not gotten any money through what election finance forms call conduits, that is, special interest organizations that funnel money from individuals to candidates.

Although Becker did get $250 from the Democratic Party of Dane County, that is not considered a conduit under election law.

Schumacher got $1,765 from "Direct Giver-Wisconsin" conduit, according to the reports the Wisconsin Realtors Association filed with the city clerk. He also got about $2,788 from the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce's Direct Givers conduit.

However, Schumacher is not the only candidate who has gotten significant donations through conduits this year. His fellow north sider and first-time officer seeker, Mark Deadman has gotten $2,462 from the Chamber conduit and $2,010 through the WRA conduit.

Deadman is running against another first-time office seeker, Satya Rhodes-Conway, for the seat retiring Ald. Brian Benford is leaving in District 12. She, like Becker, has not taken conduit money for her campaign, although she has raised $10,743 to Deadman's $11,717.

And even after this article, TCT is still endorsing Schumacher over Becker. Why, TCT, why??
I know that the local elections aren't supposed to be partisan but I think we can safely divide the candidates into two categories; takers of WMC/ Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce cash and those who don't , and, apparently, buyers of local-union-friendly sign printers and those who use glossy materials of non-recylced origin printed outside the city.
By the way, good luck Gary Poulson and the 20th district, that Thuy Pham-Remmele sounds like a gem...

Pham-Remmele said that real people don't always go to the local mom-and-pop shop.

"Sometimes they go to Wal-Mart to get the best price," she said.

That's hot.

2007-04-01T06:24:00.000-07:00

It has been brought to my attention that I am quite wrong about the school closings and that A. The school district has already offered the mediocre Lindbergh principal a position as a co-principal of some sort at Gompers and that the teachers are getting ready to either get laid off or transfer to Gompers, depending on seniority, and 2. The class size at Gompers will go up to 35 minimum for all grades because they don't have SAGE status even if they do acquire the Lindbergh babies.
Or at least that is the understanding of a few people, one of which had "You Had a Bad Day" as her ring tone, so you can take it for what it's worth.
And for the record, you can leave your comments in the comment box, you don't have to wait to see me at a party to let me know when I have offended.

On another sour note, there is no way that my guy for District 18, Jon Becker, is going to come close to winning. Michael Schumacher has been endorsed by WSJ and The Cap Times, even people whose homes face the Cherokee Marsh have Schumacher signs in their yards. He is the Sanjaya of the 18th district.

2007-03-29T15:36:00.000-07:00

Bitch Bitch Bitch...

What nobody wants to hear about the school closings is that the movement on the Northside is inspired by Gompers Elementary and Blackhawk Middle School parents, and not the parents of students at the proposed school, Lindbergh. Here's the petition.
The Blackhawk parents have a pretty valid point, they would have to send their kids a mile or two across 113 and down busy Sherman Ave to go to a school that shares it's building with Shabazz and all the scary alternative students that go there.
However, I know that the Gompers parents are more afraid of having to share their school with all the scary Lindbergh kids and that's why they protest the idea.
Lindbergh parents pretty much have only geographic proximity going for them, they have low reading scores, a high percentage of poor kids and children of recent immigrants. They would probably be fine going to another school, especially one that has PTA money for all sorts of crazy things, like field trips!
Gompers has nothing to loose, in my opinion, they would most definetley get SAGE status, which would keep class size down, there would be increased diversity and although when they reach 6th grade, they would have to go away for middle school, the public school bus experience is great for building character.
The point is that kids spend six years in elementary school and only three in middle school.
Check out the level of low income students in each of the schools affected.
(By the way, Marquette with a 29% low income number? Cry me a river! Spread some of that PTA money around!)
Personally, I don't think the school board will close any schools. Bad PR move. I also wonder which schools those far far west siders thought their kids would go to when they bought their crap Mc Mansions.

2007-02-23T17:40:00.000-08:00

Madison: go West and Turn Left has a great post on the childcare problem in Wisconsin.

2007-02-23T07:26:00.000-08:00

Check out Barry Ortons post at Waxingamerica about the possiblilty of cutting funding for public access channels by the Legislature.
Eeps!! I love my WYOU!

2007-02-23T06:59:00.000-08:00

Where's the best place to go out on the Northside/Near East side of Madison?
We're taking a buddy out for his birthday on Saturday, so it should be festive, but not gimmicky!
My other requirements are that it not be too trendy, I'm not in college anymore, be within the city limits to reap the benefits of the smoking ban, and that there is a small likely hood of carnage.
Two of my favorite places have now fallen into the last category.
Bartime Brawl turns into Riot at the High Noon Saloon. This is really wierd because I was just there for a Rhett Miller concert a few nights before and it was ultra mellow. I suppose when you call the place The High Noon, you should expect to encounter some of that which is legendary for happening at high noon. I wonder if the piano player had to duck to avoid flying bottles!
Then Mike overheard rumors that last Friday night at the Villa Tap there was a huge fight involving a broken beer bottle that left a person seriously injured and the owner took all the rap music off the jukebox.
I used to like the Runway, but it fell victim to the smoking ban. I hear it is opening again as a mexican restaurant.
The Inferno is always a kick in the pants, especially since they had a Zombie Prom, with the Mad Rollin Dolls so cool!!! But may not be the ideal place for a bunch of self-proclaimed blue collar painter guys, besides, we need somewhere they know how to really make some authentic carbombs.

2007-02-21T20:18:00.000-08:00

Mayoral race: Happy with end results. I'll still vote Dave in April, though.

District 18: Jon Becker is going to have to knock on a few more doors and send a few more fliers out. I supported him, but I was bombarded with Schumacher lit so I can see how people might not even realize that Becker was serious.

District 12: Mark Deadman by 5 votes. Really? This is a one issue guy, and the issue is smoking in bars, pretty much a dead cow in Madison right now. Maybe he should be running for state assembly instead. I love it when people really rally around a cause, and then the cause isn't Ending War, or Curing Cancer or something, it's smoking in bars.

Supreme Court: Wow, Clifford has a lot of work to do!

"I understand her wanting to keep her powder dry," said Republican strategist Brian Schimming.

"But it's one thing to come in a respectable second and it's another to come in just ahead of a marginal candidate," a reference to Sommers, he said.

2007-02-20T14:53:00.000-08:00

I was number 214 when I voted at Lindbergh School on the Northside at 4pm.
They had five crypt keepers on duty, which felt like overkill since there was no one there.

I think I forgot to vote for school board!

2007-02-19T20:56:00.000-08:00

The only race I'm even moderately interested for tomorrow is district 18. I'm rooting for Jon Becker, even though Michael Schumacher has a pretty hot accent from the messages left on my answering machine today.
Jon Becker is a Marsh Man and has Nelson Eisman, Dorothy Wheeler and Austin King listed for endorsements.

The people I vote for never win, though...

2007-02-16T18:40:00.000-08:00

Should the Northside Businessmens' Club really have threatened to call the police on Will Sandstrom's ass?
It's a crapshoot.
While I'm offended that an alternative candidate would be excluded from debates, Will Sandstrom has been quite a pain in the ass in the last debates and even his answers to the Isthmus questionaire have been totally irrelevant. Is this guy for real?

2007-02-13T15:44:00.000-08:00

There will be another debate in the Mayoral Race tonight at 8 at the Esquire Club on Sherman, for me not to attend, but to hear about in a few days or read about in Brenda Konkel's blog, although her post about the last debate at Warner Park was SLIGHTLY LAKCING, especially since she's one of the 1,000 Friends of Cherokee Marsh.

Anyway, tonight's event is by the Norhtside Businessmen's club, not Progressive Dane, so she probably won't even be there.

Speaking of the Mayor's race, John Nichols hits it right on the mark tonight in TCT.
Regarding the excellent credentials of challengers Ray Allen and Peter Munoz;
... resumes do not bestow credibility on challengers to a popular officeholder.

Nor do issues like the dramatically over-discussed streetcar controversy. Everyone is clear on the fact that the mayor thinks trolleys may be part of the answer to the city's transportation challenges, while Allen and Munoz disagree. But there is no streetcar proposal on the table so the whole debate is about as relevant to the near-term future as a discussion about where Madison should locate its second international airport...

2007-02-09T08:35:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday night in front of a crowd of about 40 people, many of them from the north side, Munoz offered to sell Cieslewicz "some more swamp land and perhaps a bridge."

Oh no he di'nt! Peter Munoz did not just call the Cherokee Marsh a swamp!

Dorothy Wheeler to the rescue!Dorothy Wheeler, who represents the area encompassing Cherokee Marsh on the Dane County Board and is a member of the advocacy group Friends of Cherokee Marsh, said this morning she simply does not agree with Munoz about the value of the purchase. She said that in order to keep all Madison lakes clean, the marsh needs to be protected and restored, and the city's parks department would do this.

Wheeler also argues that even though the marsh cannot be built on right now, as land becomes scarcer, legislation could be changed. She recalled that in the late 1950s and early 1960s the first parts of Cherokee were developed by draining part of the marsh and dredging more of it to create Cherokee Lake. The filtering of runoff from the marsh is critical to the health of the Yahara chain of lakes, she concluded.

Munoz should just quit now and hopefully get his job back. He has just lost the North Side and any environmentalist in the entire city.

Did I mention how much I heart Dorothy?

Stay warm Sconnies!

2007-01-21T12:48:00.000-08:00

Walmart isn't going all PC on us, the reason they are starting to install hitching posts for the Amish at vertain rural stores is because the customers complain that the horses poop all over the place and they want to keep it as concentrated as possible.

Who knew too many Amish shopping at Walmart would be a problem? Doesn't that go against everything for which the Amish stand or do I misunderstand their motivations?

Religious Tolerance on the Amish.

Wisconsin is fast becoming the state with the fourth highest Amish population. After Pennsylvania, Indiana and Ohio.

2007-01-16T12:14:00.000-08:00

Whoa, is this guy for real?

Is it really like that? I guess so...

First of all I actually voted for Gore in 2000, and later regretted it. I knew that my efforts to sway the vote from the Republicans was worthless because they were going to win the election By Any Means Necessary, and my vote for Gore was a wasted one. If I had voted with my heart and brain instead of my fear impulse, my vote would have counted towards a more credible third party and that would have helped further discussions of serious issues the next time around.

A third party is desperately needed in this country when Dems think that to win they must become Republicans. I'm not a Neo-con so why would I vote for one even if he was wearing blue? For fear of the Neo-con wearing red?

It seems the Democratic Party has been more interested in working overtime to get the votes of would-be Republicans, a waste of time since those people vote along party lines no matter what the detriment to their own livelihood or the futures of their children. It would be easier to sway third-party voters to join the mob and get the Neo-cons out of office, but that's not happening.

I guess it's about big money.

Speaking of Dems vs Green...check out which party is endorsing more women.

2007-01-14T18:39:00.000-08:00

Remeber the Boondocks episode last year on MLK day where he comes back?

2007-01-10T12:56:00.000-08:00

I guess I always knew I'd vote for Dave again, but I was really interested in what the competition would have to say, since there have been some controversies in the last few years. Right now the anti-trolley people(or most of the population, it would seem) are almost as irate as the anti-smoking ban people were, not to mention the Haloween debacle.
But I feel that I've been proved wrong more than once by some of these huge issues and I am definetely willing to give Dave another chance.

For example, I was totally against the smoing ban, not because I smoke, I hate smoking smokers smoke all that horrible stuff, it killed me ma! The (really little) Libertarian in me really didn't see the sense in banning one harmful substance from the bars and leaving the other one, especially since there was already no smoking in restaurants.
But oh the joy of going to my first non-toxic bar, it was wonderful and I think I go out way more now because I know I wont have to dry clean my coat or take a shower before going to bed as long as we stay inside Madison. I know one of the people running for city council up here on the north side seems to be doing so only in objection to said smoking ban, so I know it's a point of contention for a lot of people still.

Then I was enraged that big brother would be intruding on Madison's Halloween tradition, but in practice it wasn't that big of a deal, and the police turned out to be really cool, letting people pet the horses and such (hey, a little animal love goes a long way)(don't quote me on that), so I ended up feeling like this could be a poential-potential- for bringing cash into the city if they hire bands again and make it a sponsored party.
Now we are in the middle of this Trolley debate, and by debate I mean that Dave and a few others are trying to convince the rest of Madison that we won't always have cheap gas...or breathable air, and that the idea that we need to start looking for alternative transportation methods isn't just rhetorical, and the rest of Madison having a hissy fit like a bunch of little babies "don't spend my money, we already have too many busses". I'm behind him and I think that as citizens we shouldn't just look for the lease inconvenient solution, but acknowledge that we should be making sacrifices for the environment and for the future of the city.
Yeah!

My favorite anti-Dave group was the people who were mad about the cut back on mowing in the summer. I guess that just goes to show that people will complain about literaly anything.

Anyway, Peter Munoz, as intriguing as he may be, doesn't seem to have his act together yet, and Ray Allen's "social policy experiments" comment onhiw website rubs me the wrong way(we woudn't want to change anything would we?)

I understand the concern for "Dave's Vision", but I think he would improve on the appearnce of not listening to his constituents and he's the best guy for the job...who has applied this time anyway.

2007-01-06T15:26:00.000-08:00

"I feel that we have been lied to and betrayed by this administration," Watada said Tuesday in a telephone interview from Fort Lewis. "It is the duty, the obligation of every soldier, and specifically the officers, to evaluate the legality, the truth behind every order — including the order to go to war."

Ehren Watada is speaking out not just about the Iraq war, but about the use of power by the administration. His point is that he has a duty to refuse to go because the war is illegal and he has a duty to uphopd the law. As per the Nuremburg principles(check out IV), a soldier must disobey illegal orders.

I think he has a great case, although, I will have to admit that my sympathy for him has been hindered by the fact that he joined the Military in 2003, knowing full well that he would probably be in the position of killing Muslims who had nothing at all to do with 9/11.

2006-12-27T19:39:00.000-08:00

So for X-mas Dane County Radio listeners got their Mic back. As well we should, jeez, what do you have to do to keep a popular format on the radio?
My next questions are as follows:
1. Are we going to get more local programming?
1a. What happened to Lee Rayburn, or Joshua Quinn(I loved him on the old 92.1)?
2. Are they changing any of the scheduling? Because if so I'd like to request a few hours of Thom Hartman daily.
3. Will they finally sell tickets to their events or will it still be some kind of city-wide scavenger hunt where onyl the few, jobless, obsessed actually get to see the personalities...in person?
4. Will Al Franken even give a shit if they do push Big Eddie to the 11-2 slot?
5. Can an Oreck vacuum really suck up a bowling ball?

2006-12-27T19:37:00.000-08:00

Insert your own caption.
from wonkette

2006-12-19T11:18:00.000-08:00

Daniel "Jim" Guilfoil: Iranian questions worth considering
yay for gutsy editorials!

Boo for big big problems in the public schools!
It would seem that staff feel under-supported in dealing with violence in the shcools, at least there will be a change, even though the specific reason for John Broome's firing is vague at best. Discipline issues have gotten astronomically worse sine I attended Madison public schools, ten(ok, twelve) years ago. But even then situations were handled in one of two ways; the Troublemaker leaves the classroom indefinetely, or everyone just puts up with the bullshit. No rehabilitation, or "dealing" with any potential issues, just disappearance or denial. Good Times.

Christmas is less than a week away, Thank God for small miracles. I'm not Christian, but before they put "Christ back into Christmas", they should see if he was ever there in the first place, history (and Santa Clause) begs to differ.

2006-12-16T09:44:00.000-08:00

Since the new school referendum passed there have been many conversation about what to name it. Obviously everyone wants to name it Barry Avarez Elementary, and I honestly have nothing against that.
But what if we named it after a thing instead of a person? Why does it have to be a person? why couldn't it be an animal?
I nominate one of Wisconsin's many endangered species for the name of the new school.
Try these on for size and tell me if I'm wrong:
Foxglove Elementary
Thickspike Elementary
Blue Ash Elementary
Hine's Emerald Elementary
Timber Wolf Elementary
Yellow Rail Elementary
Osprey Elemetary

To make a suggestion for the name of the new elementary school at Linden Park, contact Madison School District spokesman Ken Syke at ksyke@madison.k12.wi.us.

2006-12-07T13:08:00.000-08:00

Transcripts from Countdown with Keith Olberman:

In our fourth story on the COUNTDOWN, were those 79 recommendations comprehensive, or did they merely provide political cover? And will the panel‘s findings advance the debate without advancing a solution to the quagmire in Iraq?

Joining us now, Senator Russell Feingold of Wisconsin.

Senator, thanks for your time tonight.

SEN. RUSS FEINGOLD (D-WI): You bet, Keith.

OLBERMANN: The whole argument for this war was as a function of American counterterrorism efforts. Let me read one excerpt about that directly from the report.

“A chaotic Iraq could still provide”—or “provide a still stronger base of operations for terrorists who seek to act regionally or even globally. Al Qaeda will portray any failure by the United States in Iraq as a significant victory that will be featured prominently as they recruit for their cause in the region and around the world.”

But hadn‘t all that already happened? And do you think the panel missed how much the war in Iraq has been a drain on the global fight against terror?

FEINGOLD: Oh, they sure did, Keith. I mean, I feel like I‘ve been watching the preview of a—or premiere of a blockbuster movie in Washington. But the fact is, this commission was composed apparently entirely of people who did not have the judgment to oppose this Iraq war in the first place, and who did not have the judgment to realize it was not a wise move in the fight against terrorism.

So that‘s who‘s doing this report. And then I looked at the list of who testified before them. There‘s virtually no one who opposed the war in the first place, virtually no one who‘s been really calling for a different strategy that goes for a global approach to the war on terrorism.

So this is really a Washington inside job, and it shows not in the description of what‘s happened, that‘s fairly accurate, but it shows in the recommendations. It‘s been called a classic Washington compromise that does not do the job of extricating us from Iraq in a way that we can deal with the issues in Southeast Asia, in Afghanistan, and in Somalia, which are every bit as important as what is happening in Iraq.

So this report does not do the job, and it‘s because it was not composed of a real representative group of Americans, who believe what the American people showed in the election, which is that it is time for us to have a timetable to bring the troops out of Iraq.

OLBERMANN: So bottom line, would you agree with this? The country‘s focus, the government‘s focus should be on getting us out as quickly as possible? And is there anything in the report that hastens that?

FEINGOLD: Well, there‘s some good recommendations, absolutely, making sure that we have more translators, making sure that we actually budget properly for this war, talking to countries that aren‘t necessarily friendly to us. Those are all good recommendations.

But the problem is, the bottom line here is, what are we going to so we can allocate our resources around the world to the battle against terrorism? This report keeps us in Iraq. This report keeps our resources there. One of the things I really noticed is they said we should put our very best people embedded in the Iraqi army. Well, that‘s nice, but that means they won‘t be in Afghanistan. And we are losing ground to the Taliban in Afghanistan, which, as I remember, is where the attacks came from on 9/11.

So this thing fundamentally continues the ultimate mistake in Washington of looking at the world through the prism of Iraq, instead of looking at the threat from al Qaeda as a global problem.

OLBERMANN: The incoming majority leader of your caucus in the Senate, Harry Reid, has called on President Bush to adopt the panel‘s recommendations regardless of your points or anybody else‘s. Do you make the same call? Is this better than nothing at this point?

FEINGOLD: Well, many of the recommendations are positive, and they should be adopted, absolutely. But the main point, which is, how are we going to get our troops out of Iraq, and not continue to have them in a situation that doesn‘t make sense, that isn‘t seriously dealt with.

We lost 10 more troops in Iraq just today, Keith. How many more days are we going to put up with in this country of people dying in a situation that this report indicates isn‘t working? When you make a mistake, you should stop making the mistake. And this report misses the point.

OLBERMANN: So what are the prospects, then, for resolving this situation in Iraq? What—if this has failed, and obviously something internally from the White House, which is next on the series of—to use your analogies, movie premieres, blockbusters in Washington, is—that‘s next, where is the avenue of exit?

FEINGOLD: The answer is to there a time frame clearly communicated to the Iraqi government. I had originally proposed 15 months ago that it be done by now. Let‘s say we do it by the middle of next summer, that we‘re going to be bringing our troops out, redeploying them, as Congressman Murtha has said. We‘re going to keep certain troops there for purposes of special ops, to go after terrorists. But we‘re not going to continue to have 140,000 troops trying to stop a civil war.

That is a simple solution. It is a legitimate solution. And it is the only way to prevent the grotesque losses that are occurring with regard to American troops, our military readiness, and most importantly, the damage to the national security of the American people, which is being hurt every day when we focus excessively on Iraq and not on the world threat that we face from al Qaeda and its affiliates. That‘s the bottom line.

OLBERMANN: Lastly, sir, a political question. Does this report provide the necessary political coverage to allow other members of your party, maybe some members of the Republican Party, to try to accomplish the exit in the terms that you just expressed it in?

FEINGOLD: It, it—I don‘t know. It—maybe it‘s going to cause people on the Democratic side to be a little stronger on this issue. I worry it might give people an excuse to go back to where they were before, which is not really being able to step up to the plate and saying, Look, we need a real timetable to bring the troops out. And I send that message both to the Republicans and Democrats.

The American people spoke in the election. They want our troops out of Iraq. And you know what? They are right. That‘s the right thing to do. And Democrats and Republicans have to get serious about this right now.

OLBERMANN: Senator Russ Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin. Great thanks for joining us tonight.

FEINGOLD: Thanks.

OLBERMANN: It took the Baker-Hamilton commission from March to December to release its report. Have the violent changes in Iraq already rendered the recommendations on the ground outdated? We‘ll ask the author of “Fiasco,” Thomas Ricks.

And anyone looking to understand how war in the Baltics got started need only look at this. It is how Serbian fans show their appreciation for basketball before they play the game.

That‘s next. This is COUNTDOWN.

2006-12-06T12:12:00.000-08:00

Senator Russ Feingold will be on "Countdown" with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC tonight at 7:00 pm Central Time (8:00 pm Eastern Time). He will be discussing Iraq and his reaction to the Baker-Hamilton Commission Report. Be sure to tune in!

2006-12-06T07:10:00.000-08:00

As a W-2 graduate, the problems in the system that Watchdog Milwaukee sees are all too familiar to me.
Childcare is the number one road block to finding one's way out of poverty. There is little choice in which facilities one can use, most of the providers are W-2 themselves whose motivation is not love and commitment to your 2 year old but, understandably, survival. Payments are often cut off with no warning or obvious reasons, getting review appointments to assure continuation of benefits is like winning some kind of sick lottery, and in the end, a lot of the parents in this situation are just going to work at some dead end job paying minimum wage and would rather be with their own kids anyway.
Lets say you're not at a dead end job. Well you have to always monitor your income because once you make a penny more than the requirement, you loose all benefits and are back to paying $800 per month per child in childcare, throwing you, most likely, back into the poverty from whence you emerged; no graduated scale is what I'm saying. No incentive to do better.
social workers literally tell you not to let the father(s) of your kid(s) move in with you or not to move in with them because you will loose all your benefits if it is determined that you are not a single mom.
The only option for poor mothers (hypothetically fathers too) is to stick it out and stay poor, leave their kids with drug dealers and show up at the unrewarding crap job until the kids are old enough to go to school and then find a job that will let them leave at three o'clock.
One might argue that these children were not delivered by storks, surely there must be a male who is able to make some money to support the family. But with the judges only vaguely asking politely for 17% of their reported income, if they get around to it, it's hard to really count on that. Plus Wisconsin is a No Fault Divorce state. Bad times.

I don't know how to fix the current problem but for starters licenced preschools and day cares should not be allowed to reject children on the basis that their payments are coming from the County, like they do now. All paying children whould have access to the same preshcools, I have no idea why places like the Montessoris and the Preshcool of the Arts are allowed to discriminate, but I guess if the parents paying $800 out of their own pocket don't want their precious angels exposed to poor or minority kids, that's apparently their right.
Also there should be State funded day care co-ops, where parents can work towards tuition or pay and also use at least part of their day care allotment all while raising their own kids.
Next, we need to move into the 1990's and start elective 4 year old kindergarten, like so many other states. This would save so much money and target the kids who need the most help once they do get into kindergarten. Why don't we do this again? I thought our governor was an education man.
I also like the idea of creating jobs for W-2 benefits, like neighborhood patrol, or tutoring, etc.

I guess in the end we are dealing with a flawed society in which children are of little to no interest to their own extended families and communities, and no government program can adress that, and therefore any government program will also be flawed, I just think there should be more options.

2006-11-21T19:04:00.000-08:00

Interfaith Thanksgiving Celebration: Cap Times, WSJ
An interesting afternoon spent at the warner Park Community Center on Sunday.
I attended one of the organizers meetings, not knowing specifically who was who, but a nice woman named Selena sat next to me and made me feel right at home amidst the Baby-Boomer age reverends, pastors and other religious officials who could've been my parents.
Turns out she's a Wiccan High Priestess. Cool.
All the participants were really good, but, even if I'm partial, I'll have to say that Salih Ershcen Amir of the Madison Muslim Dawah Circle brought the house down with his speech covering the attrocities committed on the First Americans, to the bizarre world of Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy(I wrote an article on this subject a few years ago for some Motherzine, so I was touched), and finished it up with a reading of a verse in the Quran called "Ikhlas", the shortest one.
One of the lines is translated into english as something like "God begets not nor is he begotten".
I could hear the eyebrows wrinkling in the silence of the community room.

2006-11-18T09:23:00.000-08:00

Sly is still angry that Stephanie Miller and Ed Schultz left WTDY for the Mic a few years ago and says there's no way he's going to carry their programs if they come running back to him next year when The Mic disappears.
I'm like whatever. Why would Stephanie or Big Eddie want to stay on an AM station in the company of Bill O'Reilly when they could go all progressive on FM?
Apparently they did it just to hurt Sly's feelings.
I don't even like Ed Schultz, I listened to him yesterday to see what/if anything he would say about losing a station in Madison and he did adress it in reading a letter from Hawk. He sympathized with Hawk and said that if he ever came to Madison he'd do his show at Hawk's Bar and Grill on State Street-giving it some free advertizing, that's cool.
But then he went on to insinuate, but not clarify, some past issues with Madison and shrugged(or at least it felt like a shrug through the radio) the issue away saying "ownership has it's priveledges".
Oh well.
But back to Sly, if his stations main focus is local hosts, why did he not mention the few local shows carried by The Mic, specifically The Pro Show, which was doing really well?
It's because all he wanted to air his beef with the two Jones radio hosts and gloat in their loss.
I guess ownership does have it's priveleges.

2006-11-16T08:11:00.000-08:00

MADISON, Wis. -- Health officials maintain that flu shots are safe, but some parents of autistic children and others say they are concerned about mercury in the vaccine.A preservative partly made up of Mercury is now out of most childhood vaccines, but it remains in 80 to 90 percent of the year's flu shot supply.

The flu lasts a week or two, autism lasts a lifetime.

The National Autism Association on the subject.
Robert Kennedy Jr on the subject.
Rep. Dan Burton, R-Indiana, on the subject four years ago.

2006-11-14T11:37:00.000-08:00

Reform Dem has quite the post about how Falk might have managed to loose the AG race.
I've shown pretty conclusively that Falk's loss wasn't due to her divisive primary battle or to voters wanting an AG to keep an eye on Doyle. Turns out the insiders are probably pretty much correct when they say that WMC bought the election. Which seems almost like cosmic justice given that Falk used exactly the same technique to win the primary.

There are two things that I never hear people bring up, one is that Falk took money from the ATC VP during the primary, and the other is that she brought into Peg's DUI record into the campaign, a cheap shot, since everyone already knows about it-but possibly harmful to herself because I'm going to guess that more Wisconsinites know someone who has driven drunk than say for example someone who is gay. I just don't think that she spoke to the Dems. I think she was wrong to run in the first place, I realize she wanted to save the AG seat from a Republican, but she clearly didn't do anything to help the situation.
Also it's not very common for an incumbent to lose their seat to someone from their own party, maybe I'm wrong, but look at the Lieberman-Lamont race.

R.D. is right on about the cosmic justice of it all, though.

2006-11-14T11:03:00.000-08:00

More Radio Madness..., Stephanie Miller is taking on The Mic 92.1 cause in her show and on her website!
That's good for her because half her audince lives here in Madison, or so it would seem from the calls whe gets.
In a sound-off in the cap times last week someone suggested all The Mic fans just listen to WPR or WORT. Did you ever see that SNL routine with Alec Baldwin on public radio talking about his "Schwette Balls"?
That's why.
There is just nothing on WPR that remotely speaks to me, it does make me feel young, though. Maybe it's because even on shows like All Things Considered, which I listened to in my dad's car growing up and still try to listen to today, they just talk too quietly for my half-deaf ears. There's an element of being out of touch with most of the country in the voices of those NPR people that bothers me...to...no...end. And if I was listening for music I'd be listening to Charlie, or Wort on Saturdays for music not classical music anyway.
Don't get me wrong, I love radio, in any format. I think there should be more listener-sponsored radio, but it is not the same thing. It's like the difference between The Sundance Channel and WYOU. I'm not saying I never watch WYOU, or that it is irrelevant, but it is not the same quality as Sundance.
Sorry, apples and oranges, and I want both.

2006-11-12T11:57:00.000-08:00

I'm glad Russ isn't running. You know he said he'd wait to see what happened in the midterms to decide about 2008, and although the Dem takover of both the House and the Senate would indicate that the waters are warm, that marriage amendment shows, like I've said before, that in the privacy of the voting booth people can be really... discriminatory isn't the right word, but it's the first that comes to mind.
It's possible that a presidential run could distract from his duties as senator and that the American public is about as ready for a divorced Jew from Wisconisin who voted against the war and the Patriot Act, as they are for Steve to get coverage under John's health plan at work.

2006-11-10T12:53:00.000-08:00

Big Trouble! What is going on? Clear Channel is pulling the plug on The Mic? To add inslut to injury, it's for local sports.
Talk about sore losers.
This will not go down easily!

2006-11-09T20:03:00.000-08:00

Waxingamerica on Ed Bradley.
Maynard Institute Bio.
His CBS bio hasn't been updated yet, snif.

2006-11-08T18:37:00.000-08:00

From Islamicity.com
First Muslim congressman elected

Mr Ellison urged an immediate pullout of US troops from Iraq

Blog: US' healing power

Keith Ellison, a Democrat, has become the first Muslim to be elected to the US Congress by winning a Minnesota seat in the House of Representatives.

He overcame personal attacks emphasising his past association with Louis Farrakhan, leader of the radical Nation of Islam group.

The 43-year-old lawyer sought to play down the issue of his religion and ran on a populist platform.

He has called for the immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.

On the campaign trail, he also urged a greater reliance on renewable fuels and the establishment of a government-funded universal healthcare system.

"Tonight, we made history," Mr Ellison said in a victory speech to supporters. "We won a key election, but we did much more than that.

"We showed that a candidate can run a 100% positive campaign and prevail, even against tough opposition."

'Not a bigot'

Mr Ellison served two terms as a legislator in the Minnesota House of Representatives and also sat on the Minneapolis City Council.

He converted to Islam while as a student, but talked little about his religious background during the campaign.

Although he follows Islamic law in his personal life, he stresses that he is not the "Muslim candidate" for Congress.

I've never been involved in any kind of a bigotry. I've always been a consistent advocate for the human rights of all people

Keith Ellison

"I'm not running as a Muslim, I'm running as an American, as a person that's trying to help our country be better," he told Voice of America in an interview earlier this year.

"But I do hope that if we win, inshallah [God Willing], in November, that it will signal to Muslims that we should engage in the American political system. It will signal to people who are not Muslims that Muslims have a lot to offer to the United States and the improvement of our country."

He later told the BBC: "I've never been involved in any kind of a bigotry. I've always been a consistent advocate for the human rights of all people. That's my entire adult life. In all the smears that they've thrown at me they've never accused me of saying anything that was bigoted. They've only tried to make guilt by association."

He says his involvement with Louis Farrakhan was limited to a period of a few months, helping to organise the 1995 Million Man March in Washington.

During the campaign, Mr Ellison was supported by the National Jewish Democratic Council as well as a prominent Minneapolis Jewish newspaper, which endorsed him over his Republican rival Alan Fine, who is Jewish.

The Reverend Jesse Jackson, a former candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, also campaigned for him.

'Symbolic' election

Mr Ellison says his main concern is the middle class.

"The middle class is in a very difficult situation and we need some real change for them," he told Voice of America.

"As we see the middle-class incomes stagnate or go down, we're seeing increasing tuition, and increasing students' debts, and a college education is becoming beyond the reach of the average middle class family.

"We also need for middle-class families to have a real alternative in terms of oil dependency. We need to be able to get around and travel without being dependent upon oil that fluctuates so wildly and unexpectedly."

He has also broken from more conservative Muslims by favouring gay rights and abortion rights, the Associated Press news agency reports.

His election has "huge symbolism", says Larry Jacobs, a professor of political science at the University of Minnesota.

"It's very interesting that Minnesota would be the first state to send a Muslim to Congress," he told Voice of America.

"I think many Americans think of Minnesota as a state that's overwhelmingly dominated by whites, but Minnesota has changed in rapid and dramatic ways. It's seen a large influx of Somalis and immigrants from Asia, particularly Cambodia...

"The other key factor is that Minnesota has a long tradition, stretching back to Hubert Humphrey and Water Mondale, in supporting civil rights and the inclusion of African-Americans and others of colour in the political process."

One of Mr Ellison's Muslim supporters - one of five million Muslims living in the US - also believe his election will make a difference.

"You don't know how much this will be a turnover for the Muslim community that live in the United States in their involvement in the political life," he told the BBC.

"I don't want to be very much optimistic, but at least I can see that my son one day might be the president of the United States."

2006-11-08T13:08:00.000-08:00

The worst part about these mid-term elections was the same and embarrassment of being in a state where the majority is homophobic to the point of being unreasonable.
The best part about the elections was taking back the house and possibly even the Senate as far as voting is concerned. This is huge. Well, not that huge.
My favorite part was the coining of the term Macacawitz. Is that wrong?
My least favorite part was learning of the term "Sconnie", consider me schooled.

Can Dane County just secceed from the rest of the state? We could call ourselves "Danies".

The problem wiht putting a referendum that reads to your garden variety homophobe as "Do you have a problem with The Gays?", is that just because there is an overwhelming majority opinion on an issue, does not make that opinion correct or even constitutional.

Imagine the outcome of a referendum that says "Should we detain all Muslims until further notice-just in case?", or "Should the children of illegal aliens be allowed to go to our public schools?". In the quiet, anonymous, unaccountable privacy of the voting booth, people's worst sides come out and both the marriage amendment and the death penalty issues prove that there are some things best left to our elected officials.

Not that that stopped the Patriot act.....

Anyhow, my heart really goes out to all the homosexual/bi/trans people out there who may not have realized until today how long a road there still is in front of them.

2006-11-07T11:55:00.000-08:00

I have pneumonia, but I still got out to vote (like a silly old bacterial infection of any of my vital orgnas would have stopped me) and at 11am at a tiny polling place on the North Side of Madison I was voter number 400, compared to being around the 200's on average in the past around 5pm.
This is a big election. Who knew?
I found the referendums worded in a way that was more comlicated than what I had expected, and although I was familiar with them in advance, I wonder what someone who wasn't quite as nerdy as myself when it comes to elections may have thought.
Especially the school referendum where I was mezmerized by the dollar sign wiht all the zeros after it and had to read into the text a little further to make sure it was the one I was going to mark yes on.
Paul Soglin (or Barry Orton) is way way way wrong on Kohl, a vote for Kohl is a vote backwards, in my opinion. The worst(and best) that could possibly happen is that Rae Vogeler would win and that would still put a progressive in the Senate. In fact that's the only way a progressive is going to get in the Seneate in that race.
What a waste. What makes these die-hard knee-jerk Democrats any better than the people who still vote Republican? Anyone, anyone, Bueler?

Waxingamerica, I hardly knew ye.

What the hell is a "Sconnie", anyway?

2006-11-05T08:20:00.000-08:00

Sunday morning finds me with a bad taste in my mouth.

First of all....ew. What could The Capital Times possibly have to gain by endorsing Kohl? For the life of me, I can't figure it out, and they will be hearing from me on that one( a Sound Off, at least, I know how their editorials take like 7 weeks to print and then the snappy comment you made in early July has lost all relevance by mid-August when it appears).

For Shame, TCT, For Shame! Are you not my Progressive News Paper?

Then, to muddy the waters of the Death Penalty referendum on Tuesday, Saddam gets death by Hanging. What is this, the old west? What do you want on your tombstone, Saddam?
First of all, he should have been tried at The Hague, like all the other War-Crime Dictators, and like, hopefully one day, W. will be tried. But how exactly is the average American supposed to feel about this? I would expect we should be happy, but I'm still waiting to get to the part where we're better than him.

Saddam's death sentence just made my position against the death penalty crystal clear. It's not that he doesn't deserve to die, it's that the rest of us don't deserve his blood on our hands.

2006-11-03T12:13:00.000-08:00

Endorsements.
Here it is, the most important endorsement that all the candidiates are waiting for, the wisco-disco endorsement. I know that what I write here may make or break the election, so please don't think I take these endorsements lightly.
As you will find, I am voting right along progressive lines, but by no means as a knee-jerk.

Gubernatorial
Nelson Eisman is the only candidate I can vote for without rolling my eyes in this race. It's not that I believe that he will win in an upset, but I believe that every Green Party vote counts for more than just this election, it will effect upcoming elections for at least the next decade.
Eisman has the most progressive, and most importantly, clean ideas about how to run a government. He is not the man to take thousands of dollars from some sketchy source, for example CASINOS, and sell his seat to interests all while acting like a For the People Democrat. For me the number one and two issues in the US today is Publicly Financed Campaigns and Lobby Reform, because when these are fixed, corruption will.... dwindle to a manageable level and the rest of the issues will follow.

Step one in my plan is to have the third party candidate participate in the debate, and the more votes they get this election, the harder it will be in the next 2, 4 years to shut them out.

I was at one time, a huge Doyle fan. I literally had a picture of him in my office (talking to Al Franken from when the latter visited The Memorial Union in 2004), I met his wife and she was wonderful. I especially appreciated that after 9/11, Doyle was supportive of the Muslim population, and we all rallied around him and definetely appreciated his support.
Where'd he go? Why hasn't access to health care gotten better in 4 years? What happened to Milwaukee? What is happening to our schools? Why is college tuition going up?
I understand that there is only so much a Governor can do, but for me the kicker was when he blasted Professor Kevin Barrett for having the audacity to ask a few important questions about an incident 5 years ago, and then go back to his regular job. He joined the ranks of Mark Green on that issue and I just really don't feel that his vision for freedom in America is in line with my own anymore.

Second Congressional District
I really don't like Tammy Baldwin mostly because of her blatant disregard for human life during the Isreali-Lebanon conflict last summer, in which she sided, again with the Israelis for no reason other than she apparently dislikes Arabs. She also voted to cut funding for humanitarian aid to Palestine. Nice. And Magnum has been blessed by Herb Kohl* and doesn't seem like that horrible of a Republican, I mean, he's not against stem cell research.
But it comes down to congressional votes and I think we can mostly trust Tammy to follow party lines and not do anything crazy or draw any attention to herself whatsoever. Most of her money comes from outside the state anyway. She will be a can't hurt....too much, could help vote for me.
In a district this liberal and left-leaning, why can't we get a real fighter, like a Congressional Russ? Can we get any other Lesbian to run?
*a "blessing" is not the same thing as an endorsement, please note.

Senate
1.Is Russ even running or does he just get to stay there out of his own majestic beautitude?

2.I'll be voting for Rae, who the hell is Herb Kohl anyway? What has he ever done for anyone not into sports? We need another message that progressives aren't falling for this crap anymore. We arent' are we?

And now for the unpopular opinion part of my endorsements where I lash out at the Vote No people, and then vote no anyway.

Marriage Amendment
That would be a "no". But not for the reasons you would think. I can't think of why a group of people who have been marginalised by the patriarchical majority would want to partake in one of the most enslaving aspects of said patriarchy, namely marriage, but what the hell, it's your funeral.
If you have a spiritual ceremony, and then draw up some legal documents, why is that not enough? Why do you need recognition from The Patriarchy? Health Care benefits? Adoption rights? Estate rights? All these issues affect way more than just the gay population, and for most people, can't be solved by selling yourself to another human.

Do you know the real reason conservatives are against gay marriage? Not because they are holding back homosexuals, it's because they want to hold back women!!!!!!!!!

They can't figure out who is obtaining who if both parties are of the same sex.

How about we all work towards equal rights, not working to fit better into the System that holds us down?

However, I believe it is wrong to change the constitution to marginalise any group, what if they come for me next, so of course I will be voting no.

Death Penalty
Dude, wtf? No. Oh my God.

Madison School referendum
I'll vote yes, but I really dont think that building a school in Urban Sprawl land is the right message to send to people who want to build more crap Mc Mansions out there.
Send your kids to the decrepent under-funded 50 year old schools the rest of us go to, and spend your tax dollars on making those better instead.

2006-11-03T11:38:00.000-08:00

East Senior Serigne Sarr Is One Of Several Area Muslims Who Observed Ramadan During Soccer's Postseason.

Madison has a huge population of Senegalese and Gambian people and it's about time they got some deserved press!
Having lived in Senegal and visited The Gambia several times, I can say that we are lucky to have attracted these people to our city with their warm and open personalities, and rich traditions in art, dance, music and food.
As a public service, I am going to print some key words in the Wolof Language for Wisconisinites and encourage everyone to Get to Know a Senegambian!
Na nga Def? how are you?
Mangi fi rekk! I'm fine
Fecc kat. Dancer
Ceebu Xonx. spicy red rice!
Bisap. hibiscus tea.
Cuup. tie-die.
Dama seed. I'm cold.

2006-11-01T18:46:00.000-08:00

Happy post-real-Halloween!
We hit the Willy-Street neighborhood, as we do every year, because the houses on Jenifer are always decked out and the occupants very participatory!!
Best scary story of Haloween:Spooky stories and sightings have sparked an all-out ghost hunt at the Ohio Tavern on Madison's East Side.
Worst scary story of Halloween:"This is the most expensive and most negative campaign ever in Wisconsin," says Jay Heck, executive director of the reform group Common Cause in Wisconsin. "There have been negative campaigns before, but this one has been sustained by both sides for far longer."
And hope that by November 7th, Halloween in Wisconsin will be over: Peg Lautenschlager: Death penalty would add millions to state budget.

In Green Party News:
Eisman in the Cap Times
Eisman in The State Journal
John Nichols on Rae Vogeler and basically a quiet endorsement of her agianst Herb Kohl.

2006-10-30T11:46:00.000-08:00

Seargent Beavers won The Mic 92.1 radio host competition. He was a formidable opponent to my hero Kevin Barrett, and will represent Madison well in the finals.

2006-10-30T11:39:00.000-08:00

I went to State Street on Saturday night for the same reasons half the people there went; to see if something was gonna happen. The other half went to show off their costumes.
Needless to say, it was a peacefull event and even though I didn't pay to get in- I slipped in just before the 7:30 deadline, it would have been easily worth the $5, in my humble opinion.
Great People, great costumes and some good live bands and cops with a sense of humor.
Waxing America said it best, it turned out way better than expected and restores my faith in Mayor Dave.
Not that it was wavering, anyhow but he's had a hard time wiht this lately.
Now if we could just make it profitable....

2006-10-27T13:43:00.000-07:00

Oh ,no, nutty Packer-facist extremist happy to be caught.
The police report said he yelled, "Yes, I can't believe this. How did you guys find me?"

2006-10-27T13:07:00.000-07:00

Rae Vogeler gets endorsement of area news papers.
In my opinion, Rae faces two obstacles; the first is that she is out-monied by Herb Kohl, as anyone would be, she needs name recognition, because I don't think Kohl has that much going for him as far as his reconrd is concerned-hence his refusal to debate, and second, there are some sports fans who like what he has doen for keeping the Bucks in the state and his interest(read $$) in sports.
Maybe if Rae became a professional golfer or joined the UW Women's hockey team, she'd have a better shot.
It may appear that the endorsement is shared with Magnum because she poses a threat to Democrats by running against one, and therefore is a better choice for Republicans, but if you look at the opponents, Tammy Baldwin and Herb Kohl, they have in common an inneffectiveness and exude "career politician" from every pore, just making you want to vote for whomever the runs against them.
I'm in the group of people who will probably hold their nose and vote for Baldwin, though, on account of the need for Democratic votes in the Congress.
A young lady from a Congressional Democratic group came to my door asking for money to support a Democratic majority in Congress and I let her have it about Bladwin's invisibility, (unless she's cutting humanitarian aid to Palestine.)

2006-10-27T12:54:00.000-07:00

OMG! Big Brother has made it to Madison! Just in time for Halloween.
...Authorities will have four high-tech cameras above State Street, which will be continuously recording and controlled by officers in their newly expanded and improved command center."If we see something on the street like a gun, we can zoom right in and are constantly recording on DVR," said Lt. Mark Brown with the Madison Police Department. "It's been a little cramped in past years. We have a little more room; technology is better. It'll be nice to work out of here."Brown added that all officers will be on the same radio frequency.The new command center features spots for 25 various decision makers, from Madison police to the mayor.In addition, plasma TVs hanging on the wall in the center will dispatch information and images from the street...
..."We'll have a small army of volunteers on the streets," said Phil Ejercito, creator of Crashmadison.com.

Mike and I were thinking about going down tomorrow night, it's been a few years since I checked that scene out. Hope I don't get recorded in some kind of illegal transaction!
I'm also wondering, if the Madison school's budget has been so drastically cut that we're loosing teacher's aids, how does Madison's police department afford plasma-screen tvs?
Maybe they just run better bake sales than we do.
Command Center? That is sooooo WTC7!

2006-10-24T20:06:00.000-07:00

Brian Casey: Values that set U.S. apart disappearing

By Brian Casey

Well, 230 years or so was a pretty good run. It's too bad it had to end, but I guess all good things do so eventually. I never thought I'd see it myself, though. The country I've known as "America" is gone...

Dane County Timebank Surpasses Expectations

I just had my interview to join the Timebank today with Stephanie Rearick!

Don't forget, Madisonians, Nelson Eisman will be at the Union tomorrow night, check TITU for info!!

2006-10-23T17:48:00.000-07:00

Kevin Barrett event on UW Oshkosh campus already sold out

by Babblemur

The UW Oshkosh Campus Greens film series event this Thursday features the film “Loose Change 2″, which questions the Bush Administration’s role in 9/11. Following the film, controversial UW Instructor Kevin Barrett will be speaking about Academic Freedom and his opinions on 9/11 that resulted in the State Legislature calling for his firing.

Tickets were free to students last week, and became available to the public beginning this morning. By 3 p.m. they were all gone. 160 tickets claimed.

Meanwhile, two of the four events that the UW Oshkosh scheduled in response to the Barrett visit, one on “Why People Believe Weird Things” and one on “Academic Freedom” were sparsely attended, less than two dozen people at each. Two more events are yet to come, including the author of the book “Why Intelligent People believe Weird Things” oddly scheduled for Election Day, and a “Memories of 9/11″ Panel discussion on Nov. 6.

But you can also catch an anti-Kevin Barrett “Rally and Prayer Vigil” this Thursday right outside the union, sponsored by the College Republicans. They say refreshments will be provided however I doubt it will be the Eucharist.

2006-10-22T16:51:00.000-07:00

Racial slur buried at symbolic Beloit funeral
You go, New Zion Babptist Church in Beloit!

2006-10-22T09:25:00.000-07:00

Kevin Barrett was one of the four finalists in The Mic 92.1's radio host contest.
You can listen to the 9-minute entries here and vote vote vote!

I hope that The Mic will participate in something like this more often, even if a national contest isn't involved, and maybe other stations can try something similar, too. Freedom of speech at it's most fun! I, regrettably could not attend the actual event at the High Noon because I am an old ladie who lives in a shoe, but I would make serious plans to watch again if they ever did it in the future, which they will, hopefully.

2006-10-21T15:31:00.000-07:00

Who: Peregrine Forum and the Madison Area Peace Coalition

What: “Jenin Jenin” - shocking 2002 documentary

When: Sunday, November 12th at 6:30 pm

Where: Escape Java Joint (916 Williamson St.)

Info: “Jenin Jenin” - shocking 2002 documentary by Mohammed Bakri of the destruction and massacre at Jenin Refugee Camp by Israeli forces in April 2002, deemed a war crime by numerous human rights organizations. Sponsored by the Peregrine Forum and the Madison Area Peace Coalition. Free, though donations welcome to cover room rental. Info? #442-8399

Go see this movie, it's one of the best ways to explain why there are suicide bombers on Israel/Palestine. And it's free!!!!

2006-10-21T11:07:00.000-07:00

Be still my beating heart, Kevin Barrett is a contestant in the 92.1 radio host contest going on right now!!
I'm going to vote like a crazed American Idol fan for my man. I don't even care who else is running, (although Sgt. Beaver was really good, too.)

2006-10-21T09:36:00.000-07:00

Packer-facist extremist covers his evil terrorist plot by claiming it was a "hoax".

Why, Milwaukee, why?

2006-10-18T13:01:00.000-07:00

I guess the Dems will say that "of course" someone from the right wants Eisman to debate, to take votes away from Doyle! But Ed Thompson's not really on teh right and what he says is actually true. Here's the press release from today;

Wednesday, October 18, 2006


Tomah -- Today, Ed Thompson called on "We the People" to include
Nelson Eisman in Friday's gubernatorial debate.

Thompson was the Libertarian candidate for governor 2002. He and Green
Party candidate Jim Young were both invited by "We the People" to
debate the Democratic and Republican candidates.

Before the debates, Thompson was polling at just over 2%, but he
finished with more than 10% of the vote. "This demonstrates the
importance of the debates to candidates who aren't marinating in
special-interest campaign donations," he noted. Young was also polling
around 2% at the time he was included in the debates. This year,
however, "We the People" is using a single criterion -- polling at 10%
-- to bar Eisman from the debates.

"If they could include more than two candidates last time, they can do
it this time," pointed out Thompson. "And if they don't, it's because
a small number of people have decided which candidates and which ideas
the public ought to hear."

He concluded, "A debate that doesn't include all the legitimate
candidates is no debate at all. It's a personal favor to the
candidates that are included. I can understand Green and Doyle being
reluctant to debate Nelson Eisman, since they can't compete with him
on either style or substance. An organization that uses the first
three words of the Constitution for its name, however, should not let
them get away with it. It ought to have greater respect for the
public's ability to make decisions for itself."

Both Jim Doyle and Mark Green have gone to Tomah, WI, to seek
Thompson's endorsement. He turned both down. When Nelson Eisman went
to Tomah, however, Thompson gave him a campaign contribution. Young
has likewise written a check to Eisman's campaign.

Thompson's support for Eisman does not mean that the Libertarian Party
and Green Party agree on all issues. As Thompson told Eisman face to
face, however, "You're the only one in this race talking common
sense."

2006-10-17T16:20:00.000-07:00

What is going on in Milwaukee? I love that city and it kills me to see people routinely doing horribly unthinkable shit, like killing the sandwich delivery guy.
Why?
The poor kid was from Lodi, and was going to school less than a half a mile away at the UWM.

2006-10-17T16:09:00.000-07:00

I'm only going to comment on this because Dan savage, of Savage Love is a staple in the Onion and has been since I can remember, but aparently he is Bat-shit crazy and has an affection for violence.
In an interview with a writer from the Daily Pennsylvanian last week, Savage had this to say about a Green Party candidate: "Carl Romanelli should be dragged behind a pickup truck until there's nothing left but the rope."
Holy Toledo, where does that come from?
Democrats have been known to be antagonistic towards the true progressive party, The Green Party, but this is a little overboard.
Some quotes from The Daily Pennsylvanian:
- "Carl Romanelli should be dragged behind a pickup truck until there's nothing left but the rope." (2:41)

- "The Green party and its supporters are tools and fools for the republicans and the radicial right." (2:50)

- "Any progressive who votes for a Green anymore after Nader and now Romanelli is a fucking idiot and should be beaten with sticks." (3:05)

- "Romanelli may want to 'rim my ass three times a week, that doesn't make him better for me. And it doesn't make his presence on the ballot better for me than a Casey victory." (3:31)

- "Mr. Romanelli should go fuck himself." (4:00)

- "If Carl Romanelli gets back on the ballot, someone should run him over with a truck." (5:22)

That's classy, Democrats, you can have him.

2006-10-16T19:49:00.000-07:00

To celebrate a family birthday we went to the new Texas Roadhouse on East Wash way out almost under the interstate.
The food was great and the prices were surprisingly reasonable($9.99 for a dinner entree with two sides), but communicating with your fellow diners was impossible above the pounding of retro-country music, think Johnny Cash, Kenny Rogers and whoever is responsible for "All My X's live in Texas".
The waiststaff periodically breaks into some kind of choreographed stomping and jumping that almost looks like line dancing and although it brings me back to drunken nights of semi-Macarena at Alpha Delts in the late 90's, it was annoying that I couldn't get a refill on my diet coke until the white people stopped bouncing around.

2006-10-13T12:19:00.000-07:00

The cover story in this week's Northside News is about problems at the Woodland Park and the Woodlands apartments located about a a mile apart on Northport drive. They have been called "the worst in Madison"
According to police officer Kelly Donohue, these apparments generated 456 calls for service in 2004; 641 in 2005 and through August of thisyear, 517 calls.
I have had a personal experience with this place, as a member of my extended(extremely extended) family lived there from March of 2003 until about the fall of 2005 when she was evicted. (Unjustly, as she explains it, she claims she was behind in rent so she made an agreement with the managers to catch up, and found herself locked out when the management changed.)
I visited her building roughly once a week in those years and saw the rapid decline in those buildings. It went from an average complex housing mostly low-income working families, to a place to go if you want to score some smack. I saw people climbing in through windows, neighbors who didn't have any electricity for weeks on end, I heard a child offer a younger child a condom and saw and endless stream of outsiders pounding on doors. To me the ultimate slap in the face was when they filled the swimming pool with sand because they didn't want to pay the insurance anymore. Prostitution and drug dealing are rampant and I think although I used to bring my own children over there that I would now be afraid to go there myself, it's even rough in the PDQ nexdoor.
What hurts is that this is section 8 housing and for people who are trying to get ahead and provide for their children, these are the conditions they are expected to put up with because they are poor.
Any of this activity woudn't be tolerated if it was one mile up the road in Cherokee, but it is a part of daily life on these small enclaves.
These people are our neighbors and letting their apartments get run down and taken over by thugs, drugs, ho's and even worse-rich and evil apartment complex owners who make a buck off the welfare system, will result in it spilling over onto the rest of the neighborhood and city. Remember, the children who live here are your kid's and my kid's classmates and friends.
There has to be a way to make owner Dave Hoffman, who has only owned these buildings since 2002 (right before their decline into lawless anarchy) and owns 112 more properties on the south side of Madison.
There will be meetings at Warner Park on Wednesday Oct 18 and Monday Oct 23 for the Woodland Park and Woodlands residents-respectively.

2006-10-05T19:05:00.000-07:00

Rep. Frank"I was going to use protection, but then I figured 'when am I ever going to make it back to the Congo?'" Lasee has this really bad idea.
He has a "serious" proposal to allow liscenced and trained teachers, principals, janitors and possibly lunch ladies to carry guns into schools. This way, if some un-medicated, abused, behavioraly challeneged youth got his own stupid idea, educators would be able to kill him on the spot.
He says his plan is modeled after similar laws passed in Isreal and Thailand. I wonder how that's working for those countries.
http://www.madison.com/tct/news/index.php?ntid=101850&ntpid=6

Tomorrow The Mic 92.1 will broadcast another debate between 2/3 of the candidates for governor. For Shame Governor Doyle! For Shame! One would expect this disregard for Freedom of Speech and the Democratic Process from Green, but I've been sorely disappointed in recent months, first with his lashing out at Kevin Barrett, and now this pretending he's the most progressive candidate out there.
I'm voting for Eisman, because I'm tired of Democrats winning because we're afraid of the alternative, and Democrats should be challenged on their "so-called" progressive positions.

2006-10-04T20:41:00.000-07:00

Hi! I'm Siobhan, I've been doing the weblog thing for a few years now, but I have decided to put all my political and Wisconsin-related posts in one place.
I grew up in Madison and graduated from West High School, I also went to college here at the UW, and have lived on the beautiful, yet mostly forgotten North Side.
I read the Cap Times on a daily basis and although I have sent in a few editorial letters and a sound-off here and there, I prefer to find my own forum in which to make snarky jack-ass comments about how wrong(and sometimes right) the news papers, politicians and citizens all are. I read the Journal Sentinel on line and the State Journal ,when I think I can stomach it.
I love comments and flame wars, and I live on reading other people's sites.