Uppity Wisconsin

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.

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.

It is Iraq Moratorium weekend again, Friday-Sunday, with lots of Wisconsin events to call for an end to the wars and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.   I'll be at the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair in Custer Friday morning for Pancakes for Peace, sponsored by the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice (WNPJ), of which I am co-chair.  Join us if you can.  Info at www.wnpj.org 

If you can't eat pancakes for peace, there are plenty of other activities in Wisconsin this weekend.  Here's a list.  http://iraqmoratoriumwis.blogspot.com

Can't attend any of those?  Here's something you can do from home:  Please consider a d

To the list of safety, environmental, and economic concerns about nuclear power, add another: Utilities do not have enough money set aside to decommission existing nuclear reactors when they are shut down, the Associated Press reports.

The nuclear reactors themselves become huge mountains of radioactive waste when they are shut down, and need to be disposed of.  But no storage site exists to accept the waste, so the reactor on the Mississippi at Genoa, WI, which stopped operating in 1987, is still there, awaiting decommissioning.

Point Beach has only about half of the estimated $684-million it will need for decommissioning, and the Kewaunee reactor is somewhat close to having enough money set aside if estimates of $359-million are correct, the Wisconsin State Journal reports.

Help stop a current effort to open the door to more nuclear reactors in Wisconsin. Learn more and sign an online petition here.

Well, well. Someone else besides me thinks last week's US Supreme Court ruling about judges hearing cases involving huge investors in their campaigns has something to do with Wisconsin, and even Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce.

When I wrote that the ruling meant Justices Annette Ziegler and Michael Gableman, both elected with millions of dollars of media from WMC, would have to recuse themselves, Rick Esenberg said I was all wet:

 Bill, in particular, when commenting on legal matters is almost universally wrong.

Of course, Esenberg -- hardly a disinterested party since he worked to elect Ziegler and Gableman -- also announced that Paul Soglin and I aren't lawyers so couldn't be expected to know anything. That was news to Soglin, who has thought he was a lawyer ever since graduating from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1972.

Having trashed us both as know-nothings, Esenberg then backtracked about Soglin and me:

But let me grant them a point.

Two Democrats think Doyle's not running.

That's not quite as intriguing a headline as the Journal Sentinel's state convention story on Sunday, "Some state Democrats think Doyle won't seek re-election."

If you read the fine print, you'll discover that the number is two.

More than 800 delegates attended the session in Green Bay. A JS reporter talked to 12 of them. And 2 of the 12 said they think Doyle won't run for a third term next year.

That's what we call a small sample -- a miniscule sample. But even if surveying 12 of 800 delegates were a valid way to operate (hard to write that straight), 83% of the people interviewed expect Doyle to run again.

Good grief!

When state Republicans met a few weeks ago, 93% of those who participated in a straw poll supported him to be the nominee. By these new standards, the headline should have been, "Some Republilcans don't support Walker for governor," rather than the one they used, "Walker gets strong support at GOP convention."

A lot of people, of course, only read the headline or skim the first paragraph.

The Scott Walker Harley ride to promote himself and his bid for governor, under the guise of promoting Milwaukee tourism, has raised a lot of questions since he first started it in 2004. He's just raised some more questions, and a few eyebrows, with this report in the Journal Sentinel's Let's Ride blog by Rick Berrett:

Walker will lead a group of 80 motorcycle riders on the six-day, five-state tour that will wind through Wisconsin, as well as Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota, stopping in more than 35 communities.

 AirTran Airways and ChooseMilwaukee.com are sponsoring this year’s ride, offsetting any taxpayer expenses, according to Walker.

He will promote area attractions including the Harley-Davidson Museum.

A map of the route and tour schedule can be found on the Executives’ Ride web site. (Maintained by the taxpayers)

A few questions:

Will they get naming rights? Will this be billed as the AirTran Walker for Governor Tour?

Dorothy Moore, Walker's executive secretary in the county exec's office, is again the contact for the ride.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that Wisconsin Justices Annette Ziegler and Michael Gableman must disqualify themselves from hearing any cases involving Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce.

That is an oversimplification, but not by much. Here is how the NY Times summarized the decision in a front page story today:

Elected judges must disqualify themselves from cases involving people who spent exceptionally large sums to put them on the bench, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday in a 5-to-4 decision.

The decision, the first to say the Constitution’s due process clause has a role to play in policing the role of money in judicial elections, ordered the chief justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court to recuse himself from a $50 million case against a coal company whose chief executive had spent $3 million to elect him.

The facts of the case are strikingly similar to what has happened in Wisconsin in the last three years.

An online petition campaign to maintain Wisconsin's existing regulations on licensing of new nuclear reactors has been launched by the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, (WNPJ)  in cooperation with One Wisconsin Now (OWN).   The message:

Dear Friend,

We urgently need your help to maintain reasonable restrictions on nuclear power in Wisconsin.

Learn more and sign our petition here, or read on.

Wisconsin has wisely had a state law in place since 1984 that prohibits the construction of new nuclear reactors unless two conditions are met:

1. There is a federally-licensed facility to dispose of high-level radioactive waste from the reactors, and

2. The Public Service Commission makes a finding that nuclear power makes economic sense.

You wouldn't know it from the news media -- they can only cover one story at a time, and there's a state budget crisis -- but there is a growing, resurgent movement in Wisconsin determined to solve the energy and climate crises without resorting to nuclear energy.

It's not the old "No Nukes" movement, although there are elements of it, and the same reasons for opposing nuclear power in the past -- safety, waste, and cost -- and all still relevant reasons to oppose building more nuclear reactors.

But it's a broader, more thoughtful and sophisticated conversation taking place, that includes a commitment to finding efficient, renewable energy sources, reducing carbon emissions, and using conservation as part of the package.

The latest evidence of the new movement was a letter released Thursday by a dozen environmental and public interest groups, warning the government and the legislature that the unsolved question of how to dispose of deadly, highly radioactive waste, coupled with the high costs of construction, operation, security and storage of waste make nuclear power a bad, risky investment.