Uppity Wisconsin

The article continued, “The provision requires that local governments allow outside contractors to do all road projects that cost more than $25,000, rather than having municipal public works crews do the work.”

I spent most of the morning phoning highway commissioners and workers. How does this provision affect what you do? I asked. Their answers gave me important insight.

Those who support Progressive causes are in an odd position these days: we’re often in the majority on issues that matter; and we’re seriously talking about how to turn what, just a few years ago, was a wish list...into a “reality list”.

Staying in the majority, however, requires the assistance of centrist voters--and that means, from time to time, finding philosophical compromise with voters we’d like to keep “in the fold”.

In years past, the issue of the death penalty has created a considerable chasm between Progressives and centrists; with the one side concerned about the misapplication of capital punishment, and the other convinced that, for the most heinous of crimes, the only way to achieve a truly just outcome is for the guilty party to face the most severe of punishments.

What if we could bridge that gap?

In today’s discussion we propose to do exactly that: to create a death penalty process that only executes those who are truly guilty and excludes those who might not deserve to be put to death...in fact, those who might not be guilty of any crime at all.

That was beautifully said. There is an ignorance about Michael Jackson in contemporary America that bears no relationship to the impact that this human being had upon the world. Watching MSNBC's liberal newscasters simply categorize Jackson as a weird demented icon was heart wrenching. They destroyed my image of a passionate and empathetic news station  and cruelly reminded me of FOX's discriminatory coverage of O.J. Simpson. This deja vu constantly reminds black people that in the eyes of white liberals we are a guilty headline to be exploited by the CEO's of corporate advertisers. MSNBC's coverage was not an honorable memorial, but a lynching party with a Vanity editor tying the hangman's noose by the dim light of hyperbole from seasoned newscasters.  

You're right, meaningful liberals are all too eager to march to the distant sounds of apathy because they can step over the pig manure they historically permeated in their own back yard. Thanks for being you.

‘Conservative’ means ‘saving money’ and ‘keeping soldiers as slaves onto death.’ Whether we are talking John McCain or Burr or Graham or two dozen others, these patriotic heroes have done nothing over the years but receive continual support from our favorite veterans groups for gutting military and veterans benefits.

With a series of ‘think tanks’ selling pseudo science, most of them got their feet wet with decades of ‘smoking and lung cancer denial,’ or similar idiocy, the American Enterprise Institute stands out as the lead in the war against American heroes.

Even more maniacal and radical than the Heritiage Foundation, private ‘rubber stamp’ for the schemes of Amway/Blackwater, Coors extremism and Richard Mellon Scaife, private funder for the failed Clinton impeachment, the AEI focuses on destroying veterans.

Their primary tool is a Doctor Sally Satel.

Profuse apologies to John Lennon. But that refrain was in my brain after reading Tom Still's plea that Wisconsin consider nuclear power. "What do we have to lose?" he asks. (More on that later)

Still, president of something called the Wisconsin Technology Council, thinks it's a crying shame that Wisconsin has a moratorium law on the books that won't allow the state to even consider nuclear power as an option.

It will come as a surprise to many -- but not, I suspect, to Tom Still -- to learn that there is no nuclear "moratorium" in effect that bans more nuclear power plants in the state.

What is on the books is a perfectly reasonable law that says if you want to build a new reactor here, there are two requirements that must be met first:

(1) There must be a federal site to dispose of the dangerous, high level radioactive waste the reactors produce, and

(2) The Public Service Commission must find that nuclear power makes economic sense.

That's no ban or moratorium. It merely sets some reasonable requirements. But since the law was passed in 1984 the nuclear industry has not been able to meet those tests. So now it wants to relax the law.

It has been more than 50 years since the US began generating nuclear power -- and nuclear waste.

It has been an amazing week in Iran, and you are no doubt seeing images that would have been unimaginable just a few weeks ago. For most of us, Iran has been a country about which we know very little…which, obviously, makes it tough to put the limited news we’re getting into a proper context.

The goal of today’s conversation is to give you a bit more of an “insider look” at today’s news; and to do that we’ll describe some of the risks Iranian bloggers face as they go about their business, we’ll meet a blogging Iranian cleric, we’ll address the issue of what tools the Iranians use for Internet censorship and the companies that could potentially be helping it along, and then we’ll examine Internet traffic patterns into and out of Iran.

Finally, a few words about, of all things, how certain computer games might be useful as tools of revolution.

The first task for today…let’s talk about blogging:

It turns out that bloggers in Iran risk running afoul of the Press Law of 1986, which, in addition to requiring the licensing of media outlets, reads in part:

Article 6: The print media are permitted to publish news items except in cases when they violate Islamic principles and codes and public rights as outlined in this chapter…

…5.

When I asked last week whether AirTran would get naming rights for the Scott Walker for Governor Harley ride, in return for its corporate sponsorship, I thought I was being facetious.

Sometimes a person's imagination doesn't stretch far enough. The Journal Sentinel reports:

 For this year's trip, AirTran will pick up the estimated $2,800 gas, hotel and meal tab. In exchange, the AirTran logo will be prominent on flags that can be mounted on participants' motorcycles, signs on support vehicles and on the headscarves some cyclists wear.

And you know what? The odds are overwhelming that the Milwaukee County Ethics Board, which has always rubber-stamped whatever Walker did, will say that's just fine.

This is my favorite part of the story, though:

He'll strictly avoid any talk about the governor's race or politics during the dozens of news interviews his staff has arranged for him on the trip, Walker said.

If there is one story that does not mention he's running for governor, I'll be anxious to see it.

What a load of crappity crap, crap, as that old poophead Charlie Sykes would say.

From the "we couldn't even make this stuff up" department

I couldn't possibly comment on this as my head just will not stop spinning around - such mixed emotions - laughter, revulsion, fear.  It must be those gay folk undermining the sanctity of marriage again - yeah, that's the ticket.

Looking forward to some really entertaining right-wing explanations of this one.