Crying over raw milk

My column for the Daily News is online.  It’s called, “Crying over raw milk.”  Here’s a taste:

The entire kerfuffle over raw milk gives us a nice illustration of the competing interests of liberty vs. oppression, free markets vs. consumer protection and public health vs. consumer choice.

[...]

It’s become somewhat of a novelty for Wisconsinites to actually rebel against government regulation. I suppose it should come as no surprise that it’s happening over a glass of milk. 

West Bend Council Sends Resolution to GM

Dang it.  They had it right the first time.

With a little more background information provided and the personal appeal of Heiser Automotive Group’s president, the Common Council changed its collective mind — mostly — and voted to support a resolution asking General Motors Co. to restore Heiser’s Chevrolet and Cadillac franchises in West Bend.

  Heiser Automotive Group Inc. has asked for arbitration on GM’s franchise revocation decision and Chris Dulla, the dealership’s president, said community support would help its cause.

  Two weeks ago, the seven aldermen decided not to act at all on the resolution requested by Heiser protesting the removal of the dealership franchises from Heiser Chevrolet Cadillac of West Bend.

  On a 6-1 vote Monday, the Common Council voted to back the resolution. Alderman Tony Turner cast the lone no vote. “My position hasn’t changed,” he said. “I consider this almost meddling in the free enterprise system.”

  He did not feel the city should get involved in a private business decision.

  Others saw it differently.

  Steve Hutchins asked for the reconsideration after he learned more from Heiser about GM’s decision, he said.

  It’s a local business asking for support, Hutchins said. “I think we should give them the support.”

  “We would be supportive of any business in the community,” said Roger Kist.

  Before its final vote, the council voted 5-2 to reconsider the resolution with Turner and Michael Schlotfeldt voting against.

Not only is a resolution like this completely useless, it is not the business of the City of West Bend to attempt to meddle in things like this. 

Beware the Ides of March

Just sayin’. 

Under Cover

Huh, whodathunk?

They are the Republicans of Dane County, a small spot of crimson in a region overrun with blue. 

Making fun of Republicans is a beloved tradition in these parts, like going to the Farmers’ Market or taking offense at the student section at Badger games. But how many of us actually know any?

Last month, I set out to acquaint myself with as many local Republicans as I could by going undercover into the Dane County GOP. For weeks I attended the local party’s events: I gave my real name, answered personal questions honestly, and tried to keep an open mind. Mostly what I did was listen.

What I found is that Republicans in Dane County are warm, generous, thought-provoking, and at times outrageously offensive — just like lots of other people I know.

I have found the inverse to also be true.  When I engage liberals on a personal level - even when they know me to be a conservative - most of them are kind, decent folks.  There are exceptions, of course. 

Hat tip Spring City Chronicle. 

Citizens Not So United

LOL.

Citizens United, the group at the center of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark campaign finance ruling, has asked a Wisconsin group to stop using its “Citizens United” name in a petition protesting the decision.

A lawyer representing Citizens United sent a letter last week asking the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign to change the name of its “Citizens United Against Citizens United” online petition and Facebook group.

Both were started to protest the court’s January ruling that corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money to advocate for and against federal candidates.

The letter, signed by attorney Wyatt Durrette, Jr., of Richmond, Va., warns the name violates the group’s trademark covering the term “Citizens United.” It tells the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, which advocates for campaign finance reform, to stop its use and to “destroy all writings and/or other articles” with the name.

Mike McCabe, director of the Madison-based Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, said he laughed when he received the letter but was taking it seriously. He said his group was soliciting legal opinions about whether it needs to change the name and will respond by Friday, as requested.

Should there Be a Stigma to Abortion?

I admit that I find stories like this intensely troubling.

One hundred thousand people have watched Angie Jackson’s abortion. Late last month, Jackson posted a video of herself to YouTube, recorded after she took RU-486, a medication used to end pregnancies. “I found out about a week ago, Saturday, that I was pregnant,” the 27-year-old mom from Florida explains in the two-and-a-half minute clip. “For a variety of reasons, including very high health risks for me, I’m having an abortion. Right now.” Jackson also tweeted her experience, detailing the cramps and bleeding she experienced.

Jackson says in the video that she wants to “demystify abortion,” to show it’s “not that bad, not that scary.”

There was a time when everyone seemed to agree that abortion should be rare.  Now we are moving into an era where women are practically bragging about it.  It’s a disgusting moral stance.  For example, take this snippet:

Like one woman who terminated a pregnancy when she learned her baby would have Down syndrome. “I don’t look at it as though I had an abortion, even though that is technically what it is,” she told the New York Times. “There’s a difference. I wanted this baby.”

Bullshit.  She didn’t want that baby.  She killed it.  She wanted a baby that didn’t have Down syndrome.  Perhaps next time she will want a son instead of a daughter.  Will she make the same choice?

Or this:

That same year T shirts with the straightforward declaration “I had an abortion” made frequent appearances at pro-choice walks and rallies after Planned Parenthood sold them through its Web site. “People are upset to be confronted by a real person who has had an abortion as opposed to thinking about it as an abstract issue,”

I don’t know anyone who opposes abortion who thinks of it as an abstract issue.  In fact, when I was pro-choice (yes, there was a time), it was an abstract issue for me.  Now it’s anything but abstract.  Frankly, those who brag and celebrate the fact that they had an abortion are repulsive to me. 

Neumann Delivers Petitions Opposing Health Care Bill

Good for him.

Republican candidate for governor Mark Neumann delivered more than 5,000 petitions to the Milwaukee office of U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) on Monday from people who say they are against the health care bill before Congress.

Neumann carried the petitions, stacked about two feet high, into Moore’s office Monday morning, and then told reporters that the health care bill will mean higher taxes and more government spending.

He also said that he supported a draft state constitutional amendment that he said was likely to be introduced by State Sen. Joe Leibham (R-Sheboygan), which would preserve choice and private health care options in Wisconsin.

As governor, he said he would take steps to try to block a health care bill from taking effect in Wisconsin.

ACORN Still Acorn

Even under another name.

Affiliates of the once mighty liberal activist group ACORN are remaking themselves in a desperate bid to ditch the tarnished name of their parent organization and restore federal grants and other revenue streams that ran dry in the wake of a video scandal.

The letters A, C, O, R and N are coming off office doors from New York to California. Business cards are being reprinted. New signs with new names are popping up in front of offices.

The breakaways are trying to shed the scandal that emerged six months ago when videos showed some ACORN workers giving tax tips to conservative activists posing as a pimp and prostitute. But while their names are different, most groups have kept the same offices and staff.

Racial Bigotry Not Keeping Pace

Troubling.

A coalition of the nation’s most fervent bigots convened in Washington Monday to address growing concerns that the production of hateful new racial slurs has failed to keep pace with the rise in mixed-race births.

According to representatives from the American Racists and Bigots Council (ARBC), the growing number of children born to parents of different ethnicities has posed a real challenge to the nation’s hate-speech developers—a challenge they say threatens their way of life.

“The world is changing, and we, the hateful and ignorant of America, need to change with it,” ARBC chairman Tom Branson said at a rally Monday. “The time has come for our ugly, intolerant rhetoric to step into the 21st century. Our disgusting, dehumanizing slurs simply must reflect the terrifying new global society we now live in.”

Israel Puts Forth Innovative Organ Donation Law

Makes sense to me.

Israel is launching a potentially trailblazing experiment in organ donation: Sign a donor card, and you and your family move up in line for a transplant if one is needed.

The new law is the first of its kind in the world, and international medical authorities are eager to see if it boosts organ supply. But it has also raised resistance from within Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish minority.

I admit, however, that I’m a bit callous when it comes to my own inevitable death and the remains that will be left behind.  Cut me up, donate my organs, burn me, do medical experiments on me… whatever.  I’ll be dead and not too concerned about the flesh I will leave behind. 

Obama Administration Pushing Away Israel

This was a minor flap that the Obama administration is exploiting to push away one of our closest allies. 

Israel’s announcement of plans to build 1,600 homes for Jews in East Jerusalem was “destructive” to peace efforts, a top aide to Barack Obama says.

David Axelrod said the move, which overshadowed a visit to Israel by US Vice-President Joe Biden, was also an “insult” to the United States.

Israel’s prime minister has tried to play down the unusually bitter diplomatic row between the two allies.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week issued her own stern rebuke.

Mrs Clinton told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by telephone on Friday that the Israeli move was “deeply negative” for US-Israeli relations.

Letter To Lynn Corazzi

I’m just going to reprint this in its entirety because it’s too beautifully detailed to summarize.  I’ll work on verifying the details.  Hopefully some readers can help me out there. 

Good morning Lynn,

I am listing out the most obvious/egregious financial issues that I have identified via District documents. To be absolutely clear, none of the data below is from my sources and is purely and unequivocably extracted from District data and FOIA requested data.

A few points of information to insure that you are clear on my standpoint:

(1) If the Board intends to have “transparency”, then my FOIA requests should be unnecessary and a clear red flag to you that transparency is not happening. I have documented emails from myself to Adminstration staff requesting specific data and explanations and have received no responses. That is unacceptable as a community member and should be unacceptable to you as a representative of the community. I have alerted both yourself and Kris Beaver to this situation and continue to await a response and action. Failure to hold anyone in the Administration accountable for public responses is silent approval on your part.

(2) You stated that the District is a business. Then it should be run like a business. Of the 1 1/2 years of sitting on the CFAC committee, not once did we ever review the prior years actual financial performance to the budgeted numbers. Failure to hold department heads accountable to their budgets relegates the budget to be a moot point and useless. In other words, why spend months putting together a budget that nobody follows and nobody is held accountable? in business, an employee(s) get fired for failure to achieve their budgeted numbers. Again, lack of accountability is very apparent.

(3) Responsibility. Per the District charter, your “job description” as a Board member, and per the District Attorney, you have a responsibility to hold the Administration accountable for “use and disbursement of all public funds”. As you stated at the Jackson PTO meeting, “spending $50000 is easy” which makes me question your financial mindset. You took the job, you are accountable for doing the job. As the District Attorney reminded me, “ignorance is no defense in the eyes of the law”. As you will see below, there are multiple financial issues and now that you are being duly informed via this email, you can no longer claim ignorance.

(4) The files that are attached illustrate key points. The first one was published by the Milwaukee Journal in early December, 2009 (file name “tasr”). Other than listing the West Bend School District alphabetically, the true ranking of the District when it comes to average teacher pay and lack of tenure puts the West Bend District in the TOP 10% of the State Districts. This third party data clearly contradicts your mantra of being the lowest spending District in Wisconsin when in fact it clearly shows that we are paying more inexperienced teachers a higher average salary than the compared districts.

The other file is the recommended 2010-2011 capital projects requested by Dave Ross, District construction guy. As you can see, it totals $1,080,000 for all the projects listed. Going into the 2010-2011 school year with you telling us that we should be expecting another “tax to the max” tax levy coupled by a $2 million deficit makes me question the disconnect between the Administration (represented by Dave Ross in this example) and the financial realities of the District. I am not questioning the worthiness of the projects and have no knowledge about their impact, however, it is glaringly obvious that anyone who is blinded by the financial realities of the District and holds this type of leadership position should be removed from office. The logic of spending ourselves out of a growing deficit is contrary to every economic model and you, as a Board member, should be counseling Dr. Pat about the inappropriateness of these collective recommendations. Either she is disconnected or she is not actively managing this guy. Either way, the buck stops with her and that is your job to hold her accountable.

(5) Upon review of the 2008-2009 actual vs budgeted financial performance report provided via FOIA request (403 page document), I want to commend Mr. Heimark for being one of 3 principals who actually held to their budgets. The previous sentence should make you wonder….that means that ALL of the other department heads DID NOT. If you are running a business, 3 of roughly 20 managers hit their numbers and 17 did not. I would keep the 3 and fire the 17, including the General Manager (in this case, superintendent). As much as Mr. Heimark has cut services, decresed expenses, and run a comparatively stable expense rate for last year, his peers are spending money like it is going out of style. Since the District is not providing the date of actual expenses on this report, I can only go off when the journal entries are made and it is glaringly obvious that when the last entries in each sub section are massive dollar expenditures that those expenses are coming at the end of the school year and the person doing the spending is trying to use up all the money left in their budget because they have a “use it or lose it mindset”. That forces you, The Board, to give them the same amount or more the next school year because it makes it look like they really needed the money. Again, the problem is that there is zero accountability for this kind of spending.

Here are some obvious expenditures that should be questioned:

2008 - $674000 spent on land in Village of Jackson. Per your logic, if services drop, property values decline, families relocate to other districts, then we wont need the land to build a new school. SELL the land for $500000 and return the money to the general fund.

+

Insurance on the Village Land. Not disclosed. Guess $10000 annually

+
$100000 (salary, taxes, benefits) 2008 hired a marketing guy from Midwest Express to market the referendum. Referendum is done with. Why are we still employing a marketing director for a school district?

+ $301000 VOIP phone system. District notes clearly show an expected ROI in 2010. Who made the purchase recommendation? Why havent they come forward to show the ROI? If there is no ROI, they should be fired.

+ $55000 Missing gasoline expenses in the Facilities Department. How many lawnmowers do we power with $55k in gasoline? If the District isn’t powering its own fleet of school buses, how is it that $55k was spent on gas and nobody knows for what?

+ $20000/month (240000 annual) spent on DELL computers. I called Dell. At that monthly expense, we would be spending identical to 3M corporate headquarters in Minnesota! What the heck are we paying for? I put in a FOIA request to find out….and the District says they have no record. How is that even possible?

+ $65000/month (320000 annual) spent on school buses. When I asked for copies of the competitive bids, it turns out there are none. How is it that the District does not bid out the school bus service annually? If there is no bid, I would like to submit one for 2010-2011 that will be $64999/month. I will be the winning bidder. Please send the checks to my house. Also, this is a year round contract. Then why did the District spend $25735 on a “summer school fleet” last summer?

+ ???? Valley Elliehausen Florida Trip to a conference a month ago. I stumbled upon a website advertising her as one of the speakers at a conference in Orlando, Florida. Her topic was along the lines of “How to do more with less”. So, I want to know if we the taxpayers paid for ANY part of her trip all the way down to candy bars and parking. If we are going into a $2 million deficit and the District paid for her (and who knows whom else) to go to Florida for 4 days, it will be a glaringly obvious example of the disconnect between Dr. Pat and the taxpayer. I can see the headlines now….“District going bankrupt yet pays for all expense paid trip to Florida”....as a Board member, you should be all over this one because it will land in your lap.

+ 14000 Middle School Crowd Control.

+ 7000 Fair Park Elementary -undifferentiated curriculum
+ 1900 Green Tree elementary employee travel
+5500 badger science equipment
+ 8317 Badger employee dues and fees
+6017 silverbrook field trips - why arent the students paying?
+21013 Central Office High School equipment
+4890 Combined High School foreign language equipment
+ 8919 combined high school property services
+5210 combined high school field trips - again, why arent the students paying?
+2345 spartan sun community program field trips - yet again
+6344 Vocational Education high school equipment
+1265 Vocational education high school drafting software
+7290 Vocational education high school equipment (yes, more equipment!)
+3676 Vocational education high school property services
+9210 Vocational education high school equipment (yes, a 3rd round of equipment)
+25000 Personal Services….account 253200
+24000 Property Services “other”....account 254490
+30000 Athletic Equipment ...account 162000

+600000 (yes, $600k) early retirement benefits cost $600k more than budget….thats not even in the realm of a “ballpark” ....whomever figured out that budget should be fired
+19000 Operations Services equipment
+7475 Eisenhower Personal services
+536 AODA Employee Travel
+280000 (280k) OVERspent on account 122111
+280000 (280k) OVERspent on account 215000

+43000 District subsection -employee relations
_______________

Total OVER $2.1 MILLION dollars in either OVERspent dollars or money spent on items that have no clear explanation.

***The above list is not conclusive and ALL data other than the one for insurance on the jackson land and the salary/taxes/benefits for the Marketing Director are ALL based from District provided data.

As a taxpayer, I want to see a list of all the “equipment” purchased per school. I want to specifically know what “personal services” we are paying for and why. I want to know if the $43000 spent on employee relations is being spent on making staff feel good about doing a job at which financially they are failing to do.

In conclusion, I am highly confident that you will not be asking me further details of the Districts expenditures nor solicting my input going forward on how the District spends our money since it would entail a degree of uncomfortability on your part and tacit acknowledgement that all of my data is accurate and correct. I hope that I am incorrect in my assumption, however, past history is indicative of future results.

As a taxpayer, voter, and father of three children in the District, the lack of leadership at the Board level is disappointing and there are many of us who believe that the Board has and continues to fail in its’ civic duties.

I will be publishing this email and circulating it to my friends and neighbors who are highly supportive of a significant overhaul within the leadership ranks of the District.

Sincerely,

Gordon Goggin
Father, Taxpayer and Voter

Amazon Cuts Out Colorado

Government… looking out for you.

Kristie McNealy blogs from her suburban Denver home about raising four children and health issues. Her husband, Rob, a floor installer, runs another Web site offering product reviews and advice on hardwood floors.

It’s not just for fun. Whenever someone clicks on a link to buy a book or product that their sites mention from an online seller, the McNealys get a commission. And if that customer comes back the next day to that same retailer and buys a television, they get a cut of that, too.

Last week, the McNealys, along with at least 4,000 others like them, lost a chunk of their business when Amazon.com announced it was cutting ties with its Colorado-based affiliate marketers — Web sites and bloggers that help it sell products.

In severing those ties, Amazon blamed a new state law requiring it to collect up to an estimated $4.6 million in online sales taxes a year, which will help the state close a $1.3 billion budget shortfall.

Kristie McNealy said the move will mean a loss of roughly $300 a month, money that has helped make up for a drop in her husband’s income during the recession and enabled her to stay home and homeschool her children. She worries other companies may follow Amazon’s lead.

“Losing the Amazon account has been a financial blow, but losing the rest of our accounts will change the way my husband and I do business and provide for our family,” McNealy said.

Only 168 Hours In a Week

This weekend has been a great one if you are a conservative who wants to commune with other conservatives in Wisconsin.  The Washington County GOP had their Pints and Politics night on Friday, which is always a fun event.  Saturday was a massive gathering at the Defending the American Dream summit in the Dells.  Today is a rally in Tosa with Scott Walker and Rebecca Kleefish. 

I didn’t go to any of them. 

I used to go to all of these things.  They are fun, energizing, and offer a great opportunity to network with folks.  I didn’t attend anything this weekend and I haven’t spent much time at all attending such functions for a while now.  The reasons are many.  First, my career is demanding more of my time. The down economy added extra pressures and I’ve been working my butt off.  I travel quite a bit and work hard.  When the weekend comes, I want to relax.  Second, my kids are reaching an age where they have lives of their own in which I participate.  We have basketball games, camps, competitions, performances, etc. that take a lot of time, but I wouldn’t miss them for the world.  Third, I just don’t want to go.  I used to be hungrier and wanted to attend everything to establish connections and build the blog.  Several years ago, I abandoned such ambitions and just blog about what I want to blog about when I have the time.  This blog doesn’t feed my family or play ball with my kids.  It’s a hobby that I enjoy very much, but it has a place and time for my attention. 

I’m glad that so many other great Wisconsin bloggers attended these events and shared their commentary (except for you, Lance… get a new camera).  They almost make me feel like I was there  

One more thing… if you are in Wisconsin and don’t go outside today, you’re a fool.  It’s a gorgeous day. 

Curious Tactics

I was wondering about this. 

The House’s chief Democratic headcounter said Sunday he hadn’t rounded up enough votes to pass President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul heading into a make-or-break week, even as the White House’s top political adviser said he was “absolutely confident” in its prospects.

The administration gave signs of retreating on its demands that senators jettison special home-state deals sought by individual lawmakers that have angered the public.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs predicted House passage this week, before Obama travels to Asia, a trip he postponed to push for the bill.

I watched Axelrod and other administration officials this morning basically saying that the health care bill WILL pass.  But they say that even though almost all of the vote counters out there - especially the ones who would know - say that they don’t have the votes yet.  So why would the administration declare that they have the votes?  If I’m a Democrat in the House who is planning to vote “no” or on the fence, I’d be a bit ticked that the administration assumes that I’m going to cave.  Or, alternatively, I’d assume that they have the votes and don’t need mine, thus relieving me from having to toe the party line. 

I can think of only two scenarios for the administration’s tactics here.  First, they could be using a classic Chicago bullying tactic of declaring victory and then going to those folks on the fence and saying “YOU don’t want to be the one who killed health care reform, DO YOU?”  Second, the White House could be completely delusional and overconfident.  It wouldn’t be the first time.  My money is on the former scenario.