Obama Speaks Words About Syria

Uh huh... because the Syrian regime will take him seriously.

President Barack Obama warned Syrian President Bashar Assad Monday that the use of chemical weapons by the regime would be “totally unacceptable.”

Les Miz Wedding Flash Mob

That’s pretty flippin’ awesome.

Six Million Pounds of Gunpowder

Wow.

(CNN)—A massive supply of gunpowder totaling 6 million pounds (2,700 metric tons) was found improperly stored in Louisiana’s Camp Minden, not far from where an explosion occurred two months ago, authorities said.

A weekend operation to remove the stockpile will likely extend until Tuesday, CNN affiliate KSLA reported. The town of Doyline, population 820, remains evacuated.

Louisiana State Police said the M6 smokeless gunpowder was found during a follow-up inspection after an October 15 blast at Explo Systems, Inc. The explosive materials were found “in the open and in other unapproved locations” on property leased by Explo, police said.

Fitz Suggests GAB Reform

I agree, but I don’t think it goes far enough.

The GAB was created in 2007 with broad bipartisan support in the Legislature in reaction to anger over how its predecessors, the Elections and Ethics boards, were working.

Ethics Board members were all appointed by the governor and officially nonpartisan. There was no pretense of nonpartisanship on the Elections Board, whose members were appointed by the governor, political parties, the state Supreme Court and legislative leaders of the state Assembly and Senate.

The Ethics Board was frequently derided as being weak and ineffectual while the Elections Board was seen as being too partisan.

But Fitzgerald said the GAB should look more like the Elections Board, with partisan political appointees.

That approach, he said, “seems to strike more of a balance than what we’re up against now.”

Too often, Fitzgerald said, the board defers to recommendations made by GAB staff. The judges don’t have enough information to go against the staff, so they typically side with them, he said.

I supported the creation of the GAB as a better alternative, but they have proven to be a farce. The flaw with something like the GAB is the fiction that members appointed to such a board are, or can be, truly non-partisan. Everyone has biases and strains of partisanship. This is something our Founding Fathers knew well and we should apply their same remedy. Instead of trying to find the elusive “non=partisan” to sit on such a board, balance the membership with partisans from all sides. And then create a good system of checks and balances on the board’s actions. Such a system works regardless of who is in power (yes, the Republicans will not always be in charge) and can serve the citizens of Wisconsin well.

Racine To Run Up Debt to Bypass Levy Cap

If they do this once, they’ll do it again and again until the taxpayers will be left holding the bag.

RACINE — Police cars, garbage trucks, lawn mowers, water pumps. City Hall used to pay for these big-ticket items with the annual tax levy.

Next year it’s putting them on the charge card.

Officials say the move is the only way they see of getting around new tax cap laws that all but bar cities and villages from raising taxes for operations unless they experience a significant increase in development.

Since the city only saw $4.8 million in net new construction between 2011 and 2012, it was only allowed to increase its operational tax levy by about $55,700 in 2013.

With that amount of money unlikely to have much of an effect on a $82.5 million budget, and the city facing an overall budget gap of $4 million, finance staff proposed moving $1.5 million to debt service — the one part of the tax levy not subject to the cap.

To Finance Director Dave Brown, the solution was simple, especially since the city will be paying the money back in one year.

“We are freeing up $1.5 million for operations by shifting the cost from operations to debt service,” he told aldermen during the budget process.

Prison Guards Try to Change Unions

Good luck!

MADISON — Wisconsin’s prison guards could vote as soon as next year in whether to break away from the Wisconsin State Employees Union.

The vote would culminate a bitter fight over election setbacks, discontent with labor leaders, and anger about working conditions 17 months after the state all but eliminated public sector union rights, the Wisconsin State Journal reported Sunday.

Brian Cunningham, a guard at the Waupun Correctional Institution, said he’s filed more than 1,900 signatures demanding a new union for about 5,800 prison workers, game wardens and other state employees classified as security and public safety workers.

“We tried to change our union from the inside,” Cunningham said. “They didn’t realize there was such a hunger to do what we’re doing.”

[...]

WSEU director Marty Beil said the guards are in for a rude awakening if they succeed in forming an independent union with lower dues and a smaller staff, because they would lack sufficient resources to serve members. He acknowledged that the leaders of the break-away effort are veteran union members, but he said they lack experience in crucial arenas such as the Legislature and the courts.

“They are going to get slaughtered, but they won’t listen to anything, and I just don’t know how to stop them from walking down that path,” Beil said.

Geez, I can’t understand why on earth the union members wouldn’t like to be belittled and insulted by the head of their union. Shocking.