Mandrell Sisters

Standing with Walker

My column for the Daily News is online. It’s called, “Standing with Walker.” Here’s a part:

Even though the accomplishments listed in this column is incomplete, even this short list is truly remarkable when one considers that Walker hasn’t even reached the half-way point of his term and has been dogged by liberal obstructionism. More than that, the things that Walker has accomplished are substantial and real. Wisconsin will benefit for generations because of some of these policies.

  In short, Walker promised that he would govern according to his values for the betterment of Wisconsin and he has fulfilled his promise. That’s why we elected him. That’s why we continue to stand by him. And we will continue to stand by him as long as he continues to stand by us. Judging by his record, we’ll be standing together for a very long time.

Fake Washers

You see it from time to time. I notice it most often in airport bathrooms. No, I’m not talking about wide stances… I’m talking about those people who pretend to wash their hands when they see that someone else is around. You know the guys (I don’t know about girls). They stand and spray, jauntily zip up, and begin their strut out of the lavatory. Then, lo and behold, they notice you. YOU, with your askance glare and disdainful sniff. So they walk over to the sink. They turn it on, flail around, but nothing appears to get wet. Then they grab a paper towel - just one, and we know that one never does the job of drying fully saturated hands - and they prance out into the world.

Frauds.

I see you.

Chisolm Defends Appearence of Bias

I had high hopes for D.A. Chisolm…

Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm is defending the chief investigator in the John Doe investigation into Scott Walker’s administration while he was county executive after a report surfaced that David Budde has a recall sign in his yard.

In a statement Monday, Chisholm said Budde told him his wife, who is a county employee, put the sign in the couple’s yard about a week ago.

“I do not regulate or control the constitutional freedoms of my employees’ families in their private lives,” the district attorney said. “They have the right, under state law, and in this case, county civil service rules, to express their political views as does any other citizen.”

...and then he has spent gobs of money on a secret investigation that has lingered for years while someone in his office illegally leaks information to Democrats and the media. Now he’s showing that he doesn’t give a rip about even the appearence of impartiality from his staff. It’s a shame for someone who holds so much power to destroy lives to prove to be a partisan on a matter so grave.

Home Sales Rise

Great news!

April sales of existing homes in Wisconsin increased 19.5% and the median sale price inched up for the second straight month, a report released Monday shows.

There were 5,218 homes sold in April, compared with 4,365 in April last year. The median price rose 2.4% statewide to $128,000 from $125,000 a year earlier, according to the Wisconsin Realtors Association.

“With 10 straight months of double-digit growth in Wisconsin home sales, I think it’s safe to say we’ve turned the corner on sales, and we’ve seen some preliminary signals that prices have begun to move upward,” said Michael Theo, president and chief executive of the Wisconsin Realtors Association.

DNR Backing Off

As with most stories like this, you have to ask yourself… is this a good thing or a bad thing?

MILWAUKEE — The number of environmental inspections conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources declined sharply in Gov. Scott Walker’s first year, leading advocates to question whether the agency is paying less attention to environmental regulation under the Republican governor.

DNR officials said inspections are down because they face a worker shortage, and note that they are still meeting federal inspection requirements.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel analyzed inspection records and reported Sunday that the decreases were seen in most categories affecting air and water quality. Of the biggest drops: Inspections of large farms were down 46 percent, and private well inspections were down 36 percent in 2011.

I think we can all agree that we want the DNR to monitor and enforce laws and regulations to ensure that our environment is clean. Where the friction arises is in how zealous the DNR should be and how they balance environmental enforcement with the other needs of the citizens - like a growing and vibrant economy.

In the case of this story, someone who strongly favors zealous environmental enforcement at all costs will see this as a bad thing. Someone who strongly favors a position where business interests always trump environmental enforcement will see this as a good thing. What we can’t do is assume that the number of inspections automatically correlates to the quality of our environment. Undoubtedly, there are a lot of useless inspections. What we should be focused on is outcomes. If the DNR can be less intrusive and less onerous and yet it still leads to the same or better level of environmental quality, then why shouldn’t we celebrate that? If the DNR can work with businesses to grow and expand while keeping the envornment reasonably safe, then shouldn’t we do that?

The DNR is one of Wisconsin’s most feared agencies. It doesn’t have to be that way. There’s a way to be good stewards of our environment without sacrificing all other interests.

Oodles of Campaign Cash

Wow.

Despite Gov. Scott Walker’s huge fundraising advantage heading into next month’s recall election, a Wisconsin State Journal analysis of the money that has flowed into all state campaigns and political groups since Walker took office suggests backers of the two major political parties have competed on an unusually level playing field.

Altogether, an estimated $86.8 million surged into Wisconsin campaigns and political groups between Jan. 1, 2011 — two days before Walker took office — and April 23 of this year, according to campaign finance statements filed with the state Government Accountability Board.

That’s a lot of cash for a campaign, but it highlights just how important it is to so many people. On a side note, it’s a positive thing for Wisconsin that the vast majority of that money will be spent in Wisconsin.

A Botched Cliche From a Botched Barrett

Ann Althouse has Barrett nailed dead to rights.

The only thing worse than a cliché is to miss the cliché. It’s a telling miss, because Barrett seems blind to the obvious fact that to save money you have to save money. So yeah, the first thing you do is try to get out of the hole. Hello? So there was a huge hole in the budget, and you would just try to get out of it. Well, you did get out of it, when you lost the election to Walker in 2010. And Walker didn’t try to get out of it. He didn’t even just stop digging. He filled the hole! And now, for all we can see, Tom Barrett wants to re-dig the hole. And then maybe try to get out of it. What a plan!

and…

That is, he doesn’t want to generally lower tax rates to stimulate business. He wants particular businesses to come to him and ask for an individual incentive and convince him somehow that their business is the right kind of business, to work through him. He sees himself as a power broker, dealing in privilege.

Muddy Day

I ran the Mud Run today in Verona with some buddies. It was a great time!

Couple Arrested for Faking Hate Crime

Well sure... if you don’t like the fact that I don’t pick up after my dogs, I’m going to try to get you thrown in jail for a hate crime. That sounds fair.

A lesbian couple who claimed they were victims of a hate crime have been arrested after police determined they staged the incidents.

On Oct. 28, Aimee Whitchurch, 37, and Christel Conklin, 29, called police and reported the words “Kill the Gay” were scrawled in red spray paint on the garage door of their Parker, Colo., home.

The next day, the couple told deputies they found a noose hanging on the handle of their front door.

The women told officers they believed the incidents were retaliation from their neighbors and homeowner’s association, who had complained the couple did not pick up after their dogs.

New Normal

One thing that has been striking about the Obama Era is the new normals that have crept into out lives. For example, we all have come to somehow think that 8+% unemployment and $4/gallon gas is normal. Another new normal is the one highlighted by Senator Johnson.

“The first people who need to compromise are the Democrats with themselves. They have 53 senators, they only need 51 to pass a budget,” said Johnson, adding he is willing to talk to anyone who is interested in achieving a solution.

We have never had a federal budget passed since Obama took office. It’s an absolute disgrace and shameful abandonment of duty and responsibility, but hardly anyone even mentions it anymore. It’s the new normal.

Stylin’ the ‘stache

Good to know.

Chauhan tells the BBC he uses coconut oil on his mustache and enlists help in the maintenance process. “I massage it and oil it regularly and I wash it every 10 days which takes a long time,” he said. “My wife helps me.”

An Oppressive Government at Work

George Will highlights a case of government theft.

This town’s police department is conniving with the federal government to circumvent Massachusetts law — which is less permissive than federal law — to seize his livelihood and retirement asset. In the lawsuit titled United States of America v. 434 Main Street, Tewksbury, Massachusetts, the government is suing an inanimate object, the motel Caswell’s father built in 1955. The U.S. Department of Justice intends to seize it, sell it for perhaps $1.5 million and give up to 80 percent of that to the Tewksbury Police Department, whose budget is just $5.5 million. The Caswells have not been charged with, let alone convicted of, a crime. They are being persecuted by two governments eager to profit from what is antiseptically called the “equitable sharing” of the fruits of civil forfeiture, a process of government enrichment that often is indistinguishable from robbery.

The Merrimack River Valley near the New Hampshire border has had more downs than ups since the 19th century, when the nearby towns of Lowell and Lawrence were centers of America’s textile industry. In the 1960s the area briefly enjoyed a high-tech boom. Caswell’s “budget” motel, too, has seen better days, as when the touring Annette Funicello and the Mouseketeers checked in. In its sixth decade the motel hosts tourists, some workers on extended stays and some elderly people who call it home. The 56 rooms rent for $56 a night or $285 a week.

Since 1994, about 30 motel customers have been arrested on drug-dealing charges. Even if those police figures are accurate — the police have a substantial monetary incentive to exaggerate — these 30 episodes involved less than 5/100ths of 1 percent of the 125,000 rooms Caswell has rented over those more than 6,700 days. Yet this is the government’s excuse for impoverishing the Caswells by seizing this property, which is their only significant source of income and all of their retirement security.

The government says the rooms were used to “facilitate” a crime. It does not say the Caswells knew or even that they were supposed to know what was going on in all their rooms all the time. Civil forfeiture law treats citizens worse than criminals, requiring them to prove their innocence — to prove they did everything possible to prevent those rare crimes from occurring in a few of those rooms. What counts as possible remains vague. The Caswells voluntarily installed security cameras, they photocopy customers’ identifications and record their license plates, and they turn the information over to the police, who have never asked the Caswells to do more.

I would note that it is often Republicans who support laws that allow for this kind of government tyranny.

Wisconsin Graduation Rate Has Increased

This is a good thing… or is it?

Figures released by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction on Thursday show a graduation rate of 87 percent in 2011. The U.S. Department of Education requires states to calculate graduation rates based on those students who earn a diploma within four years of starting high school.

The graduation rate of 87 percent is up 1.3 percent from the previous school year.

It’s only a good thing if those graduates are graduating with an education that prepares them for life. Outcomes are more important than any graduation statistic. That being said, it appears to be good news for Wisconsin.

Court Rules That Employees Must Opt-In To Have Dues Withheld

Good. It will be interesting to see what the opt-in rate will be.