Hours Away

We are literally hours away from changing our country for the worse forever.  With the apparent decision of Stupak and his cohorts that killing babies is really OK, the House Democrats look poised to shove through a health care bill that is opposed by a majority of the nation and will not receive a single Republican vote.  It will fundamentally change our relationship with our government and there is no going back. 

I’ve said in the past that I think we will see violent revolution in our nation within my lifetime.  If this passes, I will be certain. 

West Bend School District responds to Questions

In response to a lengthy letter from Gordon Goggin to school board member Lynn Corazzi, Superintendent Pat Herdrich has responded.  I’m not going to go through the whole thing, because, frankly, I have other things to do like watch the Bristol race, but I wanted to post it for all to see.  I do have a few comments, however. 

First, I continue to be frustrated when the Superintendent or other school administrators respond to citizen questions put to board members.  Yes, the board members may need to ask some questions of the administration to get facts before answering, but the board member is still responsible for responding to the query.  As a citizen, I don’t care as much about what Dr. Herdrich thinks about these things as much as a I do a board member who happens to be up for election in a few weeks.  This is particularly galling when Mr. Goggin is asking Corazzi to defend a statement that he allegedly made in public at a meeting and Dr. Herdrich responds with, “I cannot offer a first-hand response. However, Lynn Corazzi confirmed that this comment reflected one of several observations he made about working within a Fortune 50 company, and was in no way related to any financial management practices at the West Bend Public School District.”  Seriously?  Corrazi can’t reply for himself?  If Dr. Herdrich his spokesperson now?  What does Corazzi think about all of these things?  I can’t tell you.  I haven’t seen his response. 

Second, it does certainly appear that Mr. Goggin has leaped to some false conclusions, but that doesn’t make the questions invalid.  Dr. Herdrich spends a lot of time rightly detailing the various responses to Mr. Goggin’s questions - or at least the various exchanges that may not constitute an actual response.  She also spends some time telling him the accrued costs of replying to him (over a grand if you buy that) and explaining all of the reasons why the district had not responded to all of his questions.  While all of this information is perhaps interesting and truthful, it is exactly the kind of attitude that has continued to damage the district’s reputation regarding openness and transparency. 

You can read through the responses.  In some cases, Mr. Goggin appears to be wrong.  In other cases, he’s on target.  And, as usual, in some cases the district dodged the question. 

Sex Offender Registry Applies to Other Crimes

This doesn’t make any sense to me. 

Wisconsin’s Supreme Court on Friday upheld the requirement that a man convicted of a crime with no sexual component still must register as a sex offender.

James W. Smith was convicted in Brown County in 2001 of false imprisonment of a minor for making the victim ride with him while he attempted to collect a drug debt from the victim’s friend. Both he and the victim were 17 at the time.

Under Wisconsin’s original 1993 statute, only those convicted of first- or second-degree sexual assault were required to register. In 1996, the law was expanded to require registration by those convicted of other crimes, including kidnapping or false imprisonment of a child.

[...]

Writing for the majority, Justice Annette Ziegler found that the requirement, stated clearly in the statute, is rationally related to a legitimate government interest - protecting children and assisting law enforcement. Despite its name, the sex offender registry’s goal is not to identify those convicted of sexual crimes.

More than 41 other states require sex offender registration for those convicted of kidnapping or false imprisonment of a minor, even when there is no sexual element involved, according to the opinion.

Ziegler wrote that in many cases, people who kidnap children do have a sexual motivation.

In a dissent joined by Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, Justice Ann Walsh Bradley wrote that by failing to define the sex registry statute’s purpose clearly, the majority abdicated its obligation to provide meaningful review. Under the majority view, Bradley wrote, anyone convicted of just about any crime should register if the broad purpose of the sex offender registry is protect the public and assist law enforcement.

As a matter of law, I suspect that Ziegler is correct.  The statute says what the statute says.  As a matter of policy, I agree with Bradley.  This is moving down a path where anyone convicted of any crime has to register with the government.  That’s an intolerable level of oppression. 

Furthermore, by including other crimes in the sex offender registry, it dilutes the meaning of the registry.  For example, if a parent in a custody battle takes his or her kid and is captured, that person is now a registered sex offender?  The whole point of the sex offender registry was to make people, including law enforcement, aware of these predators in our midst.  The guy who ran off with his own kid (much like the 18-year-old dude who slept with his 17-year-old girlfriend) isn’t a threat in a neighborhood. 

I think the court got the ruling correct, but it does highlight the fact that the legislature needs to reevaluate the sex offender registry and how it is used. 

Government Healthcare Working For You

Lest you think that somehow denial of services will go away when you’re in a government plan.

For nearly a decade, Paula Oertel’s brain tumor was kept at bay by a drug that was not approved to treat her condition.

Then Oertel did something she never imagined would jeopardize her good health. She moved. Less than 30 miles - from one county in Wisconsin to another.

The move triggered a review of her health insurance from Medicare, which eventually led to a loss of coverage, including the drug. And the tumor returned within four months.

Lazy Management Results in Massive Embezzlement

We see this time and time again...

It was a family operation, where top bosses mingled with workers on the assembly floor, where the chief executive juggled five major titles at once, where the board of directors barely changed in 20-plus years.

And where the company’s vice president of finance could move around millions of dollars without approval from above.

In this unquestioning environment, authorities say, then-Koss Corp. executive Sujata “Sue” Sachdeva was able to spend more than $31 million in Koss funds on a lavish lifestyle and extravagant shopping sprees.

“It’s a small company. You have to trust people,” said Tracy Malone, one of the two aides to Sachdeva fired by Koss Corp. in January, the month after the alleged fraud was uncovered. Julie Mulvaney, the other veteran aide who was fired, declined to comment.

If you manage a company at any level, you HAVE to ask the hard questions and verify what you are being told.  That doesn’t mean that you have to do everyone’s job, but a little verification goes a long way. 

Man Assaults Police Officer With Member

Now that’s drunk. 

Police were called to his home by his girlfriend, who had complained about him being drunk last November.

They arrived to find the self-employed engineer sitting on the sofa wearing a pair of underpants.

Fiscal depute Elaine Lynch said: “The accused got to his feet and was standing over the police officer exposing his penis and thrusting it in her face, forcing her to take evasive action to avoid getting struck.”

Defence solicitor John Hardie said: “He was sitting on the couch drunk with his pants on.

“He can’t remember anything but accepts that if that’s what the police say then that’s what happened.

“He has never been so drunk before that day and accepts he has to take full responsibility. He apologises profusely and is extremely embarrassed.”

Open Book Co-op Out of Business

It’s never good to see a Wisconsin business close, but…

Open Book, the bookstore co-op that opened in Shorewood last fall, will close by April 30, the store’s directors said Friday.

The shop opened in November in the N. Oakland Ave. space previously occupied by a Harry W. Schwartz Bookstore. The organizers raised money from local residents and also secured a low-interest, $35,000 loan from the village.

Organizers cited “a confluence of events” for the closing, including the economy, a change in the public’s book-buying habits and strong competition from online booksellers.

“We had an expectation that we would have a much more robust holiday season than we did,” said Keith Schmitz, chairman of the Open Book co-op.

...seriously… what about the book industry has changed in six months?  The economy is about the same if not a bit better than it was when they opened.  Online booksellers, reading devices like a Kindle, and people’s book buying habits have been on this trend for quite some time.  The market hasn’t substantially changed.  It looks like the organizers here had some sort of fantasy that they could buck the trend and didn’t have enough capital to give themselves enough time to build a customer base. 

Clarke Improves House of Corrections

Nice to see some progress.

The once troubled House of Correction in Franklin has undergone a major transformation, with big improvements in security, staffing, maintenance and fiscal oversight, according to a report done by the National Institute of Corrections.

The turnaround over the past year under the management of Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. has turned a “deeply troubled” lockup into a good jail, according to the report, written by California-based corrections consultant Jeffrey A Schwartz.

Still, the jail - renamed by Clarke the “Milwaukee Correctional Center-South Facility” - has a long way to go before it could be deemed excellent, the report says. Ongoing problems include sometimes being too thinly staffed, a core group of embittered workers and inmate food and recreation problems, the report says.

Absentee Ballots Available

FYI.

The city of West Bend has received its shipment of absentee ballots for the April 6 general election. City Clerk Amy Reuteman ordered 2,075 absentee ballots. The races on the ballots include District II appellate judge, four aldermanic seats, two seats for the West Bend School Board, and several county supervisor races.

  West Bend residents are able to vote now during regular City Hall office hours. Ballots are available on the second floor of City Hall in the clerk’s office.

Word is that there were people voting yesterday already. 

Obamacare to Drive Costs Up

You didn’t actually believe that it was going to save you money, did you?

Caterpillar Inc. said the health-care overhaul legislation being considered by the U.S. House of Representatives would increase the company’s health-care costs by more than $100 million in the first year alone.

In a letter Thursday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio, Caterpillar urged lawmakers to vote against the plan “because of the substantial cost burdens it would place on our shareholders, employees and retirees.”
Caterpillar, the world’s largest construction machinery manufacturer by sales, said it’s particularly opposed to provisions in the bill that would expand Medicare taxes and mandate insurance coverage. The legislation would require nearly all companies to provide health insurance for their employees or face large fines.

The Peoria-based company said these provisions would increase its insurance costs by at least 20 percent, or more than $100 million, just in the first year of the health-care overhaul program.

Jobs Bill Unlikely to Actually Spur Hiring

Well, duh.

Don’t look for a burst of hiring by small businesses in Wisconsin as a result of the federal jobs bill signed into law on Thursday.

A number of small-business owners in the state say they make hiring decisions based on the business they generate, not whether they can save nine months’ worth of Social Security payroll taxes per newly hired worker, which is the main feature of the law.

But in an economy that seems stumped about which way it is heading - signs of growth one day are replaced by signs of stagnation the next - every bit of aid that business can get helps, they say, and they plan to take advantage of the new law if they can.

New jobs, though, won’t come in large numbers until there is enough work to justify them.

Neumann Benefited From Stimulus

This is a BS story.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Neumann is against the stimulus package and the bailout plan.

Except when his private companies are benefiting from them.

In one of his recent ads, the former congressman chides D.C. types for pushing through these proposals.

“You know some days it’s hard to tell Republican insiders from liberal Democrats,” Neumann says. “Bailouts, stimulus, huge spending.”

It’s standard election-year stuff from a veteran politician.

But this is what is out of the ordinary:

Neumann owns a stake in two companies that are benefiting big time from the very same stimulus plan that he criticizes.

We all have to play by the rules of the game even if we disagree with the rules.  For example, I oppose the Earned Income Tax Credit, but if I qualified for it, I would most certainly take it.  Why?  Because those are the rules. 

Neumann didn’t do anything wrong here and this story is a stretch.

Obama Hung in Effigy

This is disgraceful.

A teacher at a failing school where he and all his colleagues are being fired hung an effigy of President Barack Obama in his classroom, apparently in reaction to Obama’s support of extreme measures to ensure accountability in schools.

[...]

Gallo told the AP on Thursday evening that the foot-tall Obama doll that she saw Monday was hung from its feet from a white board and was holding a sign that said, “Fire Central Falls teachers.”

[...]

She said that the teacher had been issued a “strong letter of reprimand” and that she considered it an internal matter.

Obama had called the firings in Central Falls an example of holding failing schools accountable. The White House declined to comment Thursday. U.S. Secret Service spokesman Malcolm Wiley said the agency was aware of the doll but declined to comment further.

The president of the Central Falls Teachers Union, Jane Sessums, said in a written statement that the teacher, whose name wasn’t disclosed, hung the doll “as part of what he described as a lesson plan.”

I’m all for hanging politicians in effigy as a means of political protest.  It’s a long tradition in this and many other countries.  But for a teacher to use classroom time to vent his political frustrations is an utter disgrace.  A letter of reprimand is not good enough.  He should have been fired on the spot. 

On a side note, good for Obama for backing the superintendent’s actions. 

Doyle Colluded with Veterans Affairs Board

So much for “independent boards.”

At least a week before Veterans Affairs Secretary John Scocos was fired, the department’s board members had secretly come up with a strategy to dismiss and replace him, complete with a “PR plan” and “talking points” about the decision, e-mails show.

And Gov. Jim Doyle’s office reportedly had advised a board member to openly criticize Scocos to “ensure public exposure prior to the actual removal vote,” according to the e-mails, which were obtained through a state open records request.

The board voted on Nov. 24 to fire Scocos and replace him with Ken Black, a department administrator. The governor’s office and board members have repeatedly said the board acted independently of Doyle, but the e-mails raise questions about whether that’s the case - and if the state’s open meetings law was violated.

If this is obviously a case of the governor imposing his will on an “independent” board, what other boards has he manipulated (PSC?)?

RIP Fess Parker

Davyyyyyy… DAYYYYYYVY Crocket… King of the wild frontier!

Fess Parker, a baby-boomer idol in the 1950s who launched a craze for coonskin caps as television’s Davy Crockett, died Thursday of natural causes. He was 85.

Family spokeswoman Sao Anash said Parker, who was also TV’s Daniel Boone and later a major California winemaker and developer, died at his Santa Ynez Valley home. His death comes on the 84th birthday of his wife of 50 years, Marcella.