Flute Man

More Fraudulent Doctors

If I were a patient of one of these doctors, I sure would like to know that they are liars.

MADISON, Wis. (WTW) — The Madison School District has released additional sick notes given to Capitol protesters last year which show two more doctors provided the excuses the district deemed to be fraudulent.

Fifteen doctors who signed the notes have not faced sanctions from the state Medical Examining Board. The notes were written after hundreds of teachers called in sick last February, closing schools for four days.

One Liberal Criticizes Boorish Behavior

At least there is one… good for CAFFEINATED POLITICS.

While the bill was contentious, and one that I would argue does not have solid environmental protections, the outbursts and foul language used by protesters in the gallery to make their point was totally out-of-bounds.  The wholy inappropriate cursing at Republicans, draping of a banner, and the pounding on assembly doors made the whole lot of them more buffoons than serious-minded citizens.

Something very unhealthy to democracy has been unleashed at the Capitol over the past year, and unless it is reined in it only has the potential to become more unwieldy and perhaps even dangerous.  What we are witnessing has nothing to do with free speech, but instead is just boorish behavior that makes everyone looks bad.

It is not just the protestors who are to blame, but also legislators who really must conduct themselves in a fashion that underscores the responsibilities they shoulder.

While I am very opposed to Governor Scott Walker and his position on collective bargaining I am also very troubled with the antics of Representative Mark Pocan.  The Madison Democrat put a large anti-Walker banner in his office window at the Statehouse to make a political statement.  There is no way that is acceptable, unless some very tight rules were modified since I worked in the assembly.  I strongly suspect they were not, and this is but one more example of bad form in highly-charged times.

There is a time for frothy debate and hard-nosed political campaigning.  But far more often under the dome there should be level-headed civility and unity when serving in what is be a most impressive building, and (in theory)legislative body.

WRA Backs Walker

I must have missed the story about the unions - another special interest group - have already decided to back whoever runs againt Walker, even though we don’t know who it will be or if there will even be an election.

No election date has been set and no opponent determined, but the Wisconsin Realtors Association has already endorsed Gov. Scott Walker in the expected recall.

While not surprising—the WRA has long backed Republican candidates for governor—the announcement this week has angered some Realtors who say that supporting the controversial governor is hurting business.

The WRA board had unanimously backed Walker during the last campaign and helped funnel more than $150,000 to his war chest.

Living the Good Life

I’m happy for him.

Hembree, 50, is on death row at Central Prison in Raleigh, N.C., but he’s not looking for any pity in the letter he sent to The Gaston Gazette.

“Is the public aware that I am a gentleman of leisure, watching color TV in the A.C., reading, taking naps at will, eating three well balanced hot meals a day,” Hembree asked in the letter. “I’m housed in a building that connects to the new 55 million dollar hospital with round the clock free medical care 24/7.”

He also asks if the public knows that the chances of his “lawful murder” taking place in the next 20 years, if ever, are “very slim.”

Living Wills Restrict Surgeons

Uhhh… isn’t that kind of the point?

High-risk surgeons can get caught in a “Catch-22” when trying to save a life: what if the patient doesn’t want extraordinary measures taken to keep living?

A new study from a UW-Madison surgical professor suggests advance directives, or “living wills,” don’t work in the surgical suite.

Dr. Margaret “Gretchen” Schwarze, assistant professor of surgery at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, discovered that only 50 percent of surgeons who do high-risk operations discuss advance directives with their patients before surgery.

An even higher percentage, 54 percent, of the surgeons said they wouldn’t operate if a patient had a directive limiting the use of life support in post-operative care, if the surgeon thought it was necessary for the patient’s survival.

The findings were published online first by the publication Annals of Surgery and were in a UW-Madison news release posted Thursday.

An editorial calling the findings “troubling” accompanied the article, which was in the publications’ March issue.

“The goal of surgery is survival,” Schwarze said in the article. “I think what we are seeing is surgeons have a fierce responsibility for bringing their patients out of surgery alive, and they don’t like advance directives because they feel the directives tie their hands behind their backs.”

Workers Lose Pay For Obama Visit

Well, that’s lovely.

President Obama arrived in Chandler, Arizona Wednesday to talk jobs, but his appearance cost hundreds of laborers a paid day of work.

More than 1,500 workers building the Intel manufacturing facility where Obama appeared were ordered to stay home for security reasons and told they would not be paid for the day, according to KTAR in Phoenix.

An Intel spokesman said the days will be made up since the work still must be done, but some workers disagreed and expressed frustration that they were losing overtime pay.

Goons at the State of the State

I seem to remember a lot of outrage and talk about decorum from liberals when a single Congressman shouted “you lie” during Obama’s State of the Union, yet they are silent in Wisconsin about this kind of behavior.

A couple hundred people gathered at the Capitol Wednesday night for Gov. Scott Walker’s State of the State speech. But the last thing they wanted to do was to actually hear it.

They were there to drown it out, with shouting, with singing, with profanity, and even with a poorly played sousaphone. And, they said, with a recall that will get Walker off the podium for good.

“We want to be really loud so they can hear us on TV,” said Harriet Rowan, who was using her cellphone to tweet updates to followers. The organizers got around new Department of Administration rules restricting protests in the Capitol—unveiled in December but not yet completely enforced—by organizing via Twitter.

[...]

As Kleefisch passed the crowd again later, a young woman taunted him. “Your wife’s a f—- whore!” she screamed.

And it should be noted that Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs is still useless.

It took a half dozen requests to clear them out, but even the most profane and passionate protesters left the building by 8:30 p.m., when Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs strode into the press room to inform reporters that the building was “all clean.”

“Everybody cooperated and did what they were supposed to do,” he said.

Several of the musicians, however, were still banging away outside.

Old Man Tyler

Wow.

John Tyler was born in 1790. He became the 10th president of the United States in 1841 after William Henry Harrison died in office. Tyler fathered Lyon Gardiner Tyler in 1853, at age 63.  Then, at the age of 71, Lyon Gardiner Tyler fathered Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr. in 1924 and four years later at age 75, Harrison Ruffin Tyler. Both men are still alive today.

That means just three generations of the Tyler family are spread out over more than 200 years.

Wisconsin Approves of Scott Walker

Given that the liberals have been hammering him and protesting for almost a year now, what are the odds that they can move that number significantly lower with more of the same?

The Marquette University Law School released Tuesday shows 51 percent of 701 registered voters polled approve of Walker’s performance while 46 percent disapprove. The poll has a 3.8 percentage-point margin of error.

1,000 Days Without a Budget Proposal from Senate Dems

They don’t want to go on record with their priorities.

Senate Republicans slammed their Democratic colleagues on Tuesday for not passing a budget in exactly 1,000 days, accusing Democrats of shirking their duty in a period of soaring deficits.

Taxpayers Benefitting From Walker’s Reforms

Awesome.

Public schools in Green County decreased their total levies by 4.24 percent compared to their total levies last year. The seven school districts are levying $29.9 million, about $1.3 million less than $31.2 million levied for 2010-2011.

In Lafayette County, the schools dropped their total levy 3.5 percent, or $450,000. The seven school districts there will raise an aggregate $12.4 million in taxes for 2011-2012, compared to $12.9 million for the previous school year.

And in the past…

In the five subsequent years since 2005-06, annual school tax increases have averaged about 5.5 percent in the state. In Green County, the tax increases averaged 6.5 percent annually, and in Lafayette County, about 8.83 percent.

Incidentally, I had lunch in Monroe today. No Mexican restaurant should ever be designed with a single-seater crapper.

National Dems Worry About Recall Draining Union Funds Needed Elsewhere

Yeah, you should have thought about that before...

But the Wisconsin fight will consume far more resources. This is a stomach-churning prospect for Democrats and their allies because the labor expenditures could come just months before the general election, when money will be needed for more important battlegrounds such as Ohio and Florida.

“Some were asking us whether we could wait until after the election, but we can’t. This is too big a deal,” said one labor official.

A decision by labor unions to spend millions on a state-level political battle means Democrats will have that much less outside money helping President Obama and congressional candidates this fall.

Permits to Shoot Problem Wolves Valid Starting Friday

Good.

The DNR plans to send letters out today to about 100 landowners who have had problems with wolves killing livestock telling them that they can obtain permits to hunt wolves on their property. The permits will be valid beginning Friday.

Starting the same day, people also will be allowed to shoot a wolf in the act of attacking personal property without a permit.

Lest you think this is a small issue, take a look at this picture a reader sent me.

That’s one big critter. Here’s some info on it:

NE1/4, SE1/4, Sec 22, T27N-R13E, Shawano Co.
It was found dead in the Hwy G turn lane on Hwy 29 just SE of Tilleda
Adult male wolf hit by car on Friday, Dec 16, 2011 in the afternoon.
Co Hwy Dept personnel reported that it had been seen with 3 other wolves.

Standing with Gov. Walker

My column for the Daily News is online. It’s called, “Standing with Gov. Walker.”