In Brief: Super Bowl Wins and Misses, Silversun Pickups

February 8th, 2010 6 comments »

Happy Monday, and Happy Birthday Alonzo Mourning who turns 40 today. Very quickly, congrats to the Saints on the win yesterday, boo to Madison Ave. for a subpar year with the commercials (underwear was the theme this year apparently?) but kudos for sticking to the twelve step program of weening yourself off of the kinetic typography dope by only having one or two ads with it this year!

Busy start to a busy day of a busy week. Busy!

But in the meantime enjoy one of my favorite bands, the Silversun Pickups.

Senate Held Hostage Indeed

February 5th, 2010 6 comments »

I mentioned a few weeks ago how the founding fathers would probably be shocked to find that in American Democracy in 2010 a super majority of 60 votes is needed to advance any legislation in the US Senate.

I doubt they ever meant for this kind of behavior to happen either:

As my colleague Jonathan Chait notes on his blog, Senator Richard Shelby’s decision to put a hold on all Obama nominees, until his state gets several billion dollars in pork barrel spending, really does seem to be a seminal moment in the evolution of Republican obstructionism. Jonathon Cohn, The New Republic

Never mind a super majority, you now need the approval of 100 Senators to get anything done!

Where are the tea party protests about pork barrel spending and the Republican press releases which have been lambasting earmarks since January 2009?

Anyone?

I’ll Be on the TV Tomorrow Morning – Tune in For the Morning Blend

February 3rd, 2010 7 comments »

UPDATE: The video of the segment is now online. Thanks Quinn for getting it online so quickly!

I’ll be doing a segment along with Sonya Knauss from MilwaukeeMoms.com tomorrow for “The Morning Blend” on channel 4. We should be on around 9:00am-9:30am and will be discussing the changing gender roles in modern American families.

Tune in!

New Column on MilwaukeeMoms.com: “From Mad Men to Modern Dad”

February 3rd, 2010 No comments »

My latest column is up over at MilwaukeeMoms.com, this one deals with the quantum leap the family structure – and fathers in particular – have taken since the late 50’s and early 60’s.

A lot of attention – rightfully so – has been given to the evolution of the “modern” women who no longer spends her days prepping dinner and her hair in anticipation of hubby’s return from a long day at the office, but instead is right out there with him (or ahead of him as is becoming more and more common) earning an income and “bringing home the bacon” for the family. “You’ve come a long way baby” from the world of “Mad Men” in the last 50 years indeed.

The whole column is here.

Colorado Springs a Case Study in Service Cuts, Milwaukee Should Pay Attention

February 2nd, 2010 5 comments »

Read about what’s happening in Colorado Springs Colorado these days if you want a sneak peak into what Milwaukee County would look like if the “kill off government” crowd gets their way. If your tax rate isn’t the first thing you consider when choosing where to live (and most people aren’t) and you actually value a high quality of life where you live, it’s frightening.

No pools, no parks, no street lights, slashed safety budgets, increased response times.. it goes on and on. But at least they didn’t have to raise taxes!!

This tax-averse city is about to learn what it looks and feels like when budget cuts slash services most Americans consider part of the urban fabric.

More than a third of the streetlights in Colorado Springs will go dark Monday. The police helicopters are for sale on the Internet. The city is dumping firefighting jobs, a vice team, burglary investigators, beat cops — dozens of police and fire positions will go unfilled.

The parks department removed trash cans last week, replacing them with signs urging users to pack out their own litter.

Neighbors are encouraged to bring their own lawn mowers to local green spaces, because parks workers will mow them only once every two weeks. If that.

Water cutbacks mean most parks will be dead, brown turf by July; the flower and fertilizer budget is zero.

City recreation centers, indoor and outdoor pools, and a handful of museums will close for good March 31 unless they find private funding to stay open. Buses no longer run on evenings and weekends. The city won’t pay for any street paving, relying instead on a regional authority that can meet only about 10 percent of the need.

It should serve as a warning to everyone across the Country that the extreme position of “shut down government” doesn’t work. The scary thing for me is that if a few powerful people in Milwaukee had their way, this is what our home town would look like too.

This is the President Obama We Elected

January 29th, 2010 17 comments »

More of this please Mr. President.

And on top of being correct in pointing out that the whole “question” was just a talking point for a campaign, he called it for what it was, BS. That’s the guy we elected.

Public Policy Forum Report on Milwaukee County: Cut Legacy Costs & Streamline Government

January 27th, 2010 4 comments »

The Public Policy Forum released it’s long anticipated report on about the future of County Government in Milwaukee today, and as intended, it should get people talking about the future of Milwaukee County Government.

The report is titled “Should it Stay or Should it Go? Exploring the potential for structural reform in Milwaukee County government.” and like previous reports authored by the non-partisan Public Policy Forum, it’s a comprehensive, intelligent and thought provoking report that lays out many of the problems our County faces while also offering some recommendations to politicians and other civic leaders.

The synopsis for the report, which you can download for yourself on their site, follows:

Should It Stay or Should It Go?
Exploring the potential for structural reform in
Milwaukee County government

January 2010

Milwaukee County government faces immediate and substantial fiscal and programmatic challenges. The county’s structural deficit is defined as the gap between expenditure needs and anticipated revenues & is projected to grow from $48 million in 2011 to more than $106 million by 2014, despite several successive years of significant expenditure and staff reductions and anticipation of significant wage and benefit concessions in 2010. This projection is the clearest indication yet that the county’s finances are crumbling and that valued services in areas like parks, transit, mental health and public safety face severe degradation without prompt and concerted action. This action could take any of several forms, including the complete elimination of Milwaukee County government. This report, commissioned by the Greater Milwaukee Committee, provides detailed analysis and perspective on the complex issues surrounding that option, as well as other potential structural changes.

It’s by no means a quick read. Instead, it’s a very in depth look at the reasons we have a structural deficit and possible solutions for digging ourselves out. I haven’t yet had a chance to read the whole thing myself as yet, but I did take some time early this morning to read the roughly 10 pages dedicated to Parks funding and governance structures. (If you want to follow along, the part about parks starts roughly on page 86)

In short, the recommendations about a dedicated funding source for the parks will sound familiar to anyone who reads my blog, but hopefully the idea of something like an independent parks district will find some new supporters in the environmental and business community because of this report.

In a nutshell, this is exactly what many park supporters have known and been raising awareness about for years, and it’s great that the PPF has come to many of the same conclusions as we have because it will increase the credibility and hopefully the acceptance of some of the recommendations.

While well researched and written reports like this can help to move the ball forward in addressing the long term issues facing Milwaukee County, it’s important to face the reality that there are also a lot of people who are heavily invested – for a variety of reasons – in having nothing change at all.

The Public Policy Forum, and it’s President Rob Henken, once again deserve credit for producing the kind of in-depth analysis that helps to break down very complex issues into a something the public can understand and develop a greater understanding of. It’s data like this that helps to make our Government more efficient and accountable to it’s citizens and they deserve a very big “thank you” for doing so. Also, the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and it’s President Julia Taylor, deserve acknowledgment for providing the financial resources needed to produce a report as thorough and exhaustive as this one.

Good For Wisconsin Legislature in Move to Ban Bisphenol A From Baby Products

January 26th, 2010 11 comments »

As a parent, I’m glad the Wisconsin legislature is doing something about Bisphenol A or BPA in baby bottles. I think it’s a good first step to removing the harmful chemical from all our food products, but it seems like a no brainer to remove it from products that are used by the most vulnerable of us.

Bisphenol A would be banned from baby bottles and sipping cups for children age 3 and younger under a bill the Senate unanimously passed Tuesday.

BPA is a chemical used to make hard, clear plastic used in the lining of most food and beverage cans. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration this month said it had concerns about the substance’s effect on the brains, behavior and prostate glands of fetuses, infants and young children.

The Assembly Consumer Protection Committee passed an identical ban Tuesday, making the bill ready for a vote in that house.

Both houses are controlled by Democrats.

Wisconsin would join Canada, Minnesota, Connecticut, Chicago and three counties in New York in banning BPA in baby bottles. The Washington state House passed a ban Monday and that state’s Senate is expected to do the same. – jsonline.com

Busy week.

Corporations Win, Citizens Lose in Radical Supreme Court Decision Allowing Unlimited Spending on Elections By the Powerful

January 21st, 2010 28 comments »

Corporations and unions now have more power than average people in the outcome of our political elections. Many entrenched Republicans are ecstatic. So are many Democrats.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday rolled back campaign finance restrictions meant to limit corporate and union influence on elections, ruling that these organizations can spend as much as they like to help sway political races. – AP

I’m of the opinion that there is too much special interest and third party money involved already in our political process, and the decision of the Supreme Court today will only make corporate, union and special interest voices more powerful at the expense of the individual citizen and frankly, our democracy. Think about it… A corporation can now have an entire division dedicated to influencing elections.

To those who may disagree, yes, free speech rights are important. But corporations are not people. Corporations can and often are held by foreign interests. Individuals from foreign countries are forbidden from making contributions to political campaigns, but now any corporation can turn on the spigot of money and get their preferred candidate elected for a relatively small amount of money. Why waste money on lobbyists anymore when you can just spend $10 million to purchase a candidate, or trash one in office who may not agree with you?

Oh, and by the way, activist judges!! Where’s the outrage conservatives? Or is your contempt only on display when it’s convenient? Lastly, I wonder what the tea party folks think of this?

In Brief: Koss Exec. Plays the Insanity Card; JSOnline.com Redesign, Pizza Tradgedy, Bucks Tickets Too Expensive

January 21st, 2010 No comments »

Happy Thursday and welcome to day two of the Republican Senate majority!

  • The old “I had to embezzle $30 million dollars to keep up my lavish lifestyle and high social standing” defense will be employed in the Koss embezzlement case. Always a winner with the jury, especially in a recession!
  • I’m not a fan of the recently tweaked design on JSonline.com. They made the one thing that people go to the site frequently for (blogs) harder to find and are instead pushing video. Yes, I continue my crusade against the frivolity that is “jsonline video”, but there are two important differences in the switch between blogs and video on the site. 1.) The columnist blogs provide content that people actually want to see and 2.) the videos are mostly in existence to provide an extra revenue stream through the commercial you’re forced to watch.
  • For those who moved away from Milwaukee recently, you may not have heard but Pizza Man burned down the other day. Very sad. The conch there was outstanding. Hopefully they rebuild.
  • I complained about it a bit yesterday on the Twitter, but seriously, why are Bucks tickets so expensive? The cheapest lower level seats start at $50 and go up to $225 for a single game! Granted, I can go up to the upper deck and “only” pay $20 per ticket, but with a two year old it helps to be close to the action to keep their attention. You know one person who won’t be weeping tears of sorrow if the Bucks leave town someday? Me. I would however be the first in line for season tickets if we were able to replace the “BA” in NBA with a “HL”.

Lessons For Democrats and Republicans in Massachusetts Senate Race

January 20th, 2010 12 comments »

Since there are at least five emails in my inbox all asking some variation of the same question about last night’s Senate election in Massachusetts, let me share a couple quick thoughts..

Obviously it’s a big win for Republicans and a tough one for Democrats. All the conservative talk radio shows were practically giddy with excitement this morning at the news that Republican Scott Brown would be the next Senator from the state and I imagine the same is true for most of the conservative blogs around the Country as well. While I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the race myself, the things I did hear were interesting and I think there are a few things each party can take away from the race.

For Democrats, there’s a lot to take away from the loss. I think the biggest problem is you had a candidate in Coakley who literally went on vacation for two weeks and took the election for granted because it had traditionally been a “D” seat. There are people who saying the campaign didn’t even do polling because they thought it was so in the bag which for a US Senate seat is just mind blowing. Rank and file Democrats are frustrated and unhappy right now with the way things are going and they made that clear by voting for Brown 25% of the time. Get better candidates who can speak to the issues people are facing and understand that if you don’t do what you were sent to office to do, you won’t be there long.

For Republicans, I would say the danger for them is reading too much into the win. Many on the right are calling this the largest upset in American political history and are going to feel emboldened to push their agenda through now more than ever. So congrats, you got the 41st vote which means you as a party can go back to blocking everything in the Senate, but be careful of that approach since the voters expect you to get something done as well. Yes, it’s a big win for you, but it’s not the first time that a Republican has won state wide office (Remember Mitt Romney?) nor will it be the last I suspect. You had a good candidate who worked very hard and was able to take advantage of a special election that got national attention, his two attractive daughters doing commercials, a lazy opponent, and highlight part of his beliefs (fiscal) while downplaying others (social conservatism) all of which came together for a win. That was obviously the recipe for victory in Massachusetts last night, but I’m not so sure if it’s a dish that will be easily recreated in other elections this November.

One last thing about the whole “60 vote” thing in the Senate. I have heard several pundits on blogs, TV and the radio talking about how Democrats have had 60 votes for a year and haven’t been able to accomplish anything despite that.

That’s wrong of course. A year ago, Democrats had 57 seats in the Senate and “Independent” Joe Lieberman caucused with them for 58. 59 came last spring when Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Spector switched parties and 60 came when Al Franken from Minnesota was sworn in last July. Having a majority of 59 Senators is still “good” for Democrats in that they’re in the majority. Unfortunately, it takes a super majority in the Senate to get anything done right now, just the way the founding fathers wanted it.