SocratesChildren's blog

Reports continue to come in from all over, about Governor Elect Walker's fight to keep a train from running in Wisconsin, and because of that to dismiss thousands of present and future workers.

http://www.transitnow.org/112110Chicago-Milwaukee-MadisonHighSpeedRail.htm

Thanks to Kerry Thomas at Transit Now.

Bill Sell

Dutch Gets a D

Professor Stephen Dutch appeared on the scene in a flash with an essay explaining why "we" Americans do not ride transit. While he reports transit that he has experienced, and he is not shy about his personal preferences - don't crowd me, please - he tends to generalize about the rest of us.

A geologist - a fascinating field as a platform for public transportation. I'd prefer a facilities management specialist; but we transit advocates take whatever we get. Everyone is an authority on transit. Everyone knows how to run a transit system.

The real experts of course are bus riders, but specialists? Naw, we have interesting lives, jobs, families, and hobbies. But the bus? Heck, if a professor cares about bus schedules and seat width, we are glad that worry is being taken care of by, well, someone.

Cars Ride On The Backs Of Kids And Hummingbirds

... the faces of kids who had no idea what kind of energy pornography website their beautiful faces, good intentions, skateboards, bikes, and smiles would be hired off to sell cars.

Greenwashing used to be BP. Those mag and TV ads - so hip, so green. And today?

Dead in the water ? To wish. Now comes www.CleanAirTrek.com to save greenwashing from its near death experience in the Gulf.

You see, public transportation in Wisconsin is running out the clock. Fourth down came and went in April. No score and so the State of Wisconsin must turn the ball over to the car manufacturers.

Yes, to the car. That consumer of farmland, the unemployed squatter on precious downtown spaces, that indolent 20-hour a day sleeper in your household that gobbles up nearly as much green as your mortgage. The car is now promoted by the State of Wisconsin in a five-figure ad campaign promoting cars. Profits go to carmakers and road-builders and parking lot owners.

I'm not one to draw attention to "Comments" in a media website, but the Comments on this article were illuminating in the sad way of modern political discussion. Raw, hurting, angry, and often devoid of fact.

Milwaukee County panel opposes Waukesha's plan for wastewater effluent

So, stepping in where only fools dare, I have added my own Comment:

Reading this discussion would make a visitor from Europe believe Waukesha and Milwaukee have nothing in common. The vitriol shouted back and forth across the County lines, however, is only the beginning of the discussion that could actually benefit both counties.

First of all, we ought to recognize how regional thinking could benefit both counties. Milwaukee wants political support to improve its public transportation. Waukesha wants Lake Michigan water.

Milwaukee has a vital interest in making its own city more dense, livable, walkable and less car-dependent. I know no one in Milwaukee who wants our workers to move to Waukesha, but I do know that some employers in Waukesha and Wauwatosa would like to figure out how to get low pay workers into their shops and factories.

Ninety percent (90%) of the opinion in the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism (WCIJ) report on high speed rail is status quo, anti-public investment, and emphatically Cato Institute doctrine.

This essay presents eleven (11) charges that WCIJ failed their ethical principles. And twelve (12) characteristics of sloppy writing that denigrate journalism as a profession.

This blog^! is the fourth in a series about a WCIJ Report High Speed Rail broadcast on Wisconsin Public Radio July 22, 2009:

Part 1. The WCIJ Fraud. WCIJ falsified the conclusion in a US Government Accountability Office report.

Part 2. The WCIJ Virus - the Fraud over the GAO text has spread far and wide in the media.

... Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism has created a tenacious anti-rail virus, a "feathers-to-the-wind" media story that the U.S. Government Accountability Office is opposed to inter-city rail projects....

By Bill Sell

A Series of Commentaries.
Introduction. Open Letter to WPR.
Part 1. The Fraud.
(more to come)

Part 2. The Virus

Wikipedia:

A computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without the permission or knowledge of the owner.

I advocate for public transportation and so I am familiar with the benefits and limits of rail, and the proper role of government.

The efficiencies of bus and rail are well-known. WPR underwriter CSX touts that its trains can move 426 tons of freight on one gallon of gas. Even the old Milwaukee buses qualify:

One full bus takes 30 cars off the road reducing congestion and making the air healthier to breathe. That's comparable to a line of cars six blocks long traveling at 25 mph.

And so it happened, that when I visited the WCIJ website, I found myself staring in disbelief at what WCIJ calls the 'conclusion' in the U.S. GAO Report on High Speed Rail: I know the work of the GAO; and it commands respect.

Screen Shot of WCIJ Website

UW Journalists Violate Several Ethical Principles of Journalism, but WPR maintains partnership with WCIJ

Open Letter to Wisconsin Public Radio

...this July 22 radio program made me wonder about the ties that WPR has created to this group called the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism....

By Bill Sell

Introduction and Open Letter


Dear Wisconsin Public Radio

Re: "Questions remain as state pushes ahead with rail line," by Lexie Clinton of the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, with Andy Hall and Jim Packard. Web: July 21 and Radio: July 22, 2009.