Milwaukee Police Delayed Investigating Voter Fraud

Wow.  Here’s a stunning, if not too surprising, report from Dan Bice in the MJS.

Milwaukee police officers sat on their hands for months last year instead of investigating possible voter fraud cases from the 2008 general election.

It’s an incredible claim, but it’s coming from a credible source:

Assistant District Attorney Bruce Landgraf, the Milwaukee County prosecutor responsible for overseeing campaign and election issues.

“Honestly, the Milwaukee Police Department largely ignored your double voter (and other) referrals received in January 2009 for the first six months of 2009,” Landgraf wrote in an e-mail to a city elections official on Jan. 26.

Speaking with unguarded candor, the veteran prosecutor said in his note that MPD’s tardy response had a major impact. The cases involve voters who may have cast more than one ballot, felons who may have voted illegally and other cases of possible election fraud.

“Sadly, several probable cases of genuine voter fraud were harmed by that delay,” Landgraf wrote in an e-mail obtained through an open records request.

The assistant district attorney was even more pessimistic about the investigation of more than 500 individuals who registered to vote on election day but whose addresses could not be confirmed later by postcard.

“I do not expect them to ever get to the Address Cards,” he said of the Milwaukee cops.

On Friday, Landgraf declined to provide specifics, referring questions to his boss, District Attorney John Chisholm.

Interestingly, Chisholm wouldn’t elaborate on his assistant’s concerns.

“I’ll let the e-mail speak for itself,” he said while praising Landgraf’s experience and knowledge.

No Lawyers for Animals

Well, I suppose there is a little sanity out there.

The result was emphatic: Swiss voters don’t think abused animals need to have their own lawyers.

It’s a proposal that would never even come near a referendum in other countries, but the measure’s defeat Sunday disappointed animal rights advocates, who say Switzerland’s elaborate animal welfare laws aren’t being enforced.

Comparing California and Texas

Michael Barone makes some good comparisons.  Which one of these states is Wisconsin more like?

No one would include Perry on a list of serious presidential candidates, including himself, even in the flush of victory. But in his 10 years as governor, the longest in the state’s history, Texas has been teaching some lessons to which the rest of the nation should pay heed.

They are lessons that are particularly vivid when you contrast Texas, the nation’s second most populous state, with the most populous, California. Both were once Mexican territory, secured for the United States in the 1840s. Both have grown prodigiously over the past half-century. Both have populations that today are about one-third Hispanic.

But they differ vividly in public policy and in their economic progress—or lack of it—over the last decade. California has gone in for big government in a big way. Democrats hold big margins in the legislature largely because affluent voters in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area favor their liberal positions on cultural issues.

Those Democratic majorities have obediently done the bidding of public employee unions to the point that state government faces huge budget deficits. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s attempt to reduce the power of the Democratic-union combine with referenda was defeated in 2005 when public employee unions poured $100 million—all originally extracted from taxpayers—into effective TV ads.

Californians have responded by leaving the state. From 2000 to 2009, the Census Bureau estimates, there has been a domestic outflow of 1,509,000 people from California—almost as many as the number of immigrants coming in. Population growth has not been above the national average and, for the first time in history, it appears that California will gain no House seats or electoral votes from the reapportionment following the 2010 census.

Texas is a different story. Texas has low taxes—and no state income taxes—and a much smaller government. Its legislature meets for only 90 days every two years, compared with California’s year-round legislature. Its fiscal condition is sound. Public employee unions are weak or nonexistent.

But Texas seems to be delivering superior services. Its teachers are paid less than California’s. But its test scores—and with a demographically similar school population—are higher. California’s once fabled freeways are crumbling and crowded. Texas has built gleaming new highways in metro Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth.

In the meantime, Texas’ economy has been booming. Unemployment rates have been below the national average for more than a decade, as companies small and large generate new jobs.

And Americans have been voting for Texas with their feet. From 2000 to 2009, some 848,000 people moved from other parts of the United States to Texas, about the same number as moved in from abroad. That inflow has continued in 2008-09, in which 143,000 Americans moved into Texas, more than double the number in any other state, at the same time as 98,000 were moving out of California. Texas is on the way to gain four additional House seats and electoral votes in the 2010 reapportionment.

Lost Jewish Tribe In Zimbabwe

Cool.

In many ways, the Lemba tribe of Zimbabwe and South Africa are just like their neighbours.

But in other ways their customs are remarkably similar to Jewish ones.

They do not eat pork, they practise male circumcision, they ritually slaughter their animals, some of their men wear skull caps and they put the Star of David on their gravestones.

Their oral traditions claim that their ancestors were Jews who fled the Holy Land about 2,500 years ago.

It may sound like another myth of a lost tribe of Israel, but British scientists have carried out DNA tests which confirm their Semitic origin.

These tests back up the group’s belief that a group of perhaps seven men married African women and settled on the continent. The Lemba, who number perhaps 80,000, live in central Zimbabwe and the north of South Africa.

Judgment In Favor of Open Carry

Judgment.

IT IS ORDERED that judgment in the amount of $10,000.00, inclusive of attorney’s fees and costs, is entered in favor of plaintiffs, Wisconsin Carry, Inc., and Frank Hannan Rock and against defendants, City of Racine, Sgt. Nethery, and R. Prince, as to all claims of said plaintiffs, state and federal, respecting this action.

Good news that the courts are backing legally protected actions.  Here’s the background. 

Iceland Votes to Not Pay Debt

Iceland is full of welshers. 

Iceland’s voters overwhelmingly rejected a deal to pay billions of dollars it owes to the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, the Foreign Ministry said Sunday.

With around 90 percent of votes counted, just over 93 percent said no and just under 2 percent said yes. Not enough votes remain to be counted to change the result. Some 62.5 percent of Iceland’s roughly 200,000 register voters cast ballots, the ministry said.

The referendum was on a law about repaying the Netherlands and UK, which helped savers in their own countries who lost money in a failed Icelandic Internet bank.

The British and Dutch governments came up with more than $5 billion for bailing out people who lost money in Icesave—an online retail bank branch of Landsbanki. That Icelandic bank failed in October 2008, along with two other banks in the country.

Under a European Union directive, Iceland now owes compensation to Britain and the Netherlands. The Icelandic government has said it will honor its international obligations.

Iceland’s parliament passed a bill authorizing a state guarantee for repayment of the funds, but President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson declined to sign it in January. He cited public disapproval, and in particular, an Internet petition signed by up to one-quarter of the electorate, as a reason for not signing the bill. He said there needed to be a national consensus in addressing the issue.

That prompted Saturday’s national referendum on the law.

Candidate Forum

Attend!

Eagle Forum of Wisconsin-Washington County will host a forum for candidates for Washington County Supervisors and District II Court of Appeals Judge, March 31, at 6:30 p.m.

The event will be held at the City Council Chambers, 1115 S. Main Street, West Bend.

The format will include an introductory statement by each candidate. Candidates will take turns answering questions and will be allowed conclusion time.

The moderator will be Randy Melchert, former state assembly candidate and political analyst.

Mounting Debt

Gross fiscal mismanagement. 

President Barack Obama’s budget proposal would generate bigger deficits than advertised every year of the next decade, with the shortfalls totaling $1.2 trillion more than the administration estimated, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The nonpartisan agency said today the deficit will remain above 4 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product for the foreseeable future while the publicly held debt will zoom to $20.3 trillion, amounting to 90 percent of GDP by 2020. By then, interest payments on the debt will have quadrupled to more than $900 billion annually, the report said.

Deficits between 2011 and 2020 would total $9.76 trillion, the CBO said.

Economists generally consider deficits topping 3 percent of GDP to be unsustainable because that means government debt is growing faster than the ability to pay back the money.

This administration makes the folks at Enron and AIG look like pikers. 

Restroom Access Act

Seriously?

People in need of speedy relief would get it under the Restroom Access Act, passed this week by the Assembly.

Those with severe bowel disorders could get state-approved cards that would let them use any retailer’s bathroom, even if it’s just for employees, under the legislation. The bill, approved Thursday on a voice vote, now goes to the Senate.

Common sense would dictate that if I’m a retailer and there’s a customer about to crap his pants in my store, I’d let him use the employee bathroom.  This strikes me as a solution in search of a problem. 

Budget Discussions Continue

The West Bend School Board is still working toward a budget.  It’s worth paying attention now. 

Superintendent Pat Herdrich presented the administration’s proposed budget last month, along with a list of recommended reductions.

  The meeting Monday is the second of three meetings dedicated to the budget discussion.

  At the last meeting, Herdrich recommended making $2 million in reductions to bring the budget under the revenue caps and adjust to reduced state funding for schools.

  Herdrich said the recommendations, which include the elimination of the equivalent of 26.1 staff positions, have not changed since last month.

  The budget makes assumptions about student enrollment, state aid calculations and teacher wage increases, which are all presently unknown, Herdrich said, and the figures used in those areas are essentially placeholders until the actual numbers become available.

  The proposed budget also assumes the district will levy to the maximum allowable amount, Herdrich said. Additional reductions would need to be made if the district does not levy to the revenue capacity, she said.

[...]

She added that a March 22 meeting will give community members an opportunity to provide “a deeper level of feedback.”

Please take the time to let the board know your thoughts. 

Lt. Gen. James Hollingsworth Dies

RIP.

Lt. Gen. James Hollingsworth, the most decorated officer in the history of Texas A&M University, died Tuesday in San Antonio at the age of 91.

Hollingsworth was born March 24, 1918, near Sanger, Texas. He attended the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas from 1936 to 1940 and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in agriculture.

Upon graduation, Hollingsworth was commissioned into the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant. This marked the beginning of a military career that spanned 36 years (1940–1976).

Hollingsworth was honored by A&M in 1980 when he was named Distinguished Alumnus, and again in 1994 when he was inducted into the Corps of Cadets Hall of Honor.
Lt. Gen. James Hollingsworth, the most decorated officer in the history of Texas A&M University, died Tuesday in San Antonio at the age of 91.

Hollingsworth was born March 24, 1918, near Sanger, Texas. He attended the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas from 1936 to 1940 and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in agriculture.

Upon graduation, Hollingsworth was commissioned into the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant. This marked the beginning of a military career that spanned 36 years (1940–1976).

Hollingsworth was honored by A&M in 1980 when he was named Distinguished Alumnus, and again in 1994 when he was inducted into the Corps of Cadets Hall of Honor.

Tracking Trash

Yikes.  Expect someone to propose this in some American community soon.

It’s the new front in the nanny state: Microchips placed in garbage bins to monitor how much people throw away.

A pro-privacy group warns in a new report that more than 2.6 million of the chips have been surreptitiously installed in what is seen as a first step toward charging those who toss too much.

Proponents say it’s a bid to push recycling. Opponents say it stinks.

“They should mind their own business,” said Terry Williams, an unemployed Londoner who thinks the government is meddling. “I believe they have gone too far. It’s not like we are throwing away anything that is illegal.”

The advocacy group Big Brother Watch found through a series of Freedom of Information requests that many local governments, called councils in Britain, are installing the microchips in trash cans distributed to households, but in most cases have not yet activated them — in part because officials know the move would be unpopular.

“They are waiting for the political climate to change before they start using them,” said campaign director Dylan Sharpe, who predicted that families that produce large amounts of garbage would be fined.

Starbucks Chooses to Not Ban Guns in Stores

Kudos to Starbucks.  I may have to start drinking coffee. 

Starbucks has been forced into confirming it’s OK to carry guns in some of their coffee houses, after campaigners tested its policy.

Anti-gun protesters want the coffee chain to declare its coffee houses “gun- free zones”.

But in some states, where it is legal to carry a weapon, Starbucks says enforcing a ban would mean turning away law-abiding citizens.

Obama Seeks to Block Genocide Bill

The White House is right here.

The Obama administration has said it will seek to block a controversial bill describing as genocide the World War I killing of Armenians by Turks.

A congressional panel on Thursday approved the resolution, paving the way for a possible vote by the House.

But US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the administration would “work very hard” to prevent this.

Turkey voiced strong protests after the vote and recalled its ambassador from Washington for consultations.

The truth is that it was genocide by any reasonable definition of the word.  History recognizes it as such.  But passing a resolution to this effect won’t change the history and serves to tick off a very critical ally.  It would be better for the Congress to stay out of it and let the history books worry about what we call the Armenian genocide. 

Entire Senior Class at Chicago School Headed to College

Good for them.

The entire senior class at Chicago’s only public all-male, all-African-American high school has been accepted to four-year colleges. At last count, the 107 seniors had earned spots at 72 schools across the nation.

Mayor Richard Daley and Chicago Public Schools chief Ron Huberman surprised students at an all-school assembly at Urban Prep Academy for Young Men in Englewood this morning to congratulate them. It’s the first graduating class at Urban Prep since it opened its doors in 2006.