Catch a Flick Mayor Dave

The Joel Rogers and Dave Cieslewicz New Urbanist Plan for Madison is based on the false premise that free people want to live in crowded conditions devoid of wildlife. Alain Bertaud shows this with perfect clarity on the graph of Population Densities of World Cities (PDF). Free people tend to desire homes with yards. Central Planning is a defining attribute of socialist philosophy which may be why the density map of Moscow doesn’t look like any other city.

Mayor Dave could use a realty check on the academic theories that have captured his rational brain. Mayor Dave should take time and watch some of The Greatest Real Estate Movies of All Time (PDF). I recommend the following ten selections.

10. Shane:

“To begin with, virtually every Western ever made is about property rights”

9. Field of Dreams:

“If you build it, they will come.”

8. The Blues Brothers:

A city will tax an orphanage out of business if they need the land.

7. The Money Pit:

All projects begin on budget.

6. Joe’s Apartment:

Roaches love big buildings with lots of food, water and dark hiding places.

5. It’s a Wonderful Life:

Financing the real American Dream of home ownership.

4. Psycho:

When business disappears from a Mom & Pop shop, the kids get stressed.

3. Beetlejuice:

A little fear of the dead should accompany all remodeling projects.

2. Escape From New York:

When everyone is inside the cage the door can be locked.

1. Gone with The Wind:

Number one all time because it “shows the effect of government intervention – here, Sherman’s march to the sea – on Atlanta’s property market.”

The New Plan for Madison Unveiled

The Joel Rogers and Dave Cieslewicz City of Madison Comprehensive Plan can be summed up in one sentence. Madison’s hope for a sustainable future is a vision of an urban city with densely populated neighborhoods, where no cars are needed for transportation because quality of life is within walking distance. Rogers and Cieslewicz will use these words over and over and over. They are selling New Urbanist philosophy to voters who may or may not be legal residents. The city doesn’t know because they don’t card except for cigarettes and pseudoephedrine. They don’t really care.

New Urbanism

New Urbanism Critic: Claremont

New Urbanism Critic: Reason

Lost 2 Hour Finale

Lost 2 hour finale!

Yes No Totals
0007 VILLAGE OF MAPLE BLUFF 170 344

0007 VILLAGE OF MAPLE BLUFF 158 356
0007 VILLAGE OF MAPLE BLUFF 198 314

526 1014 1540

0008 VILLAGE OF SHOREWOOD HILLS 403 193
0008 VILLAGE OF SHOREWOOD HILLS 378 222
0008 VILLAGE OF SHOREWOOD HILLS 434 171
1215 586 1801

Pause, while the smoke clears

Republican Democracy vs. Authoritarianism: http://billroggio.com/.

Rural Unrest in China: "China has some serious problems brewing. They have a largely rural population that works as subsistence farmers while the urban workers in South East China that work in the factories enjoy much better education and living conditions as well as higher wages and in general a better lifestyle. Urban China is exploiting Rural China and there is a mass migration to the cities.

From a historical context, we underwent the mass urban migration around the turn of the century when the Industrial Revolution caught up with our agricultural society. We had a population in the tens of Millions and it still was uneasy. Our mass urbanization led to labor unions and unrest as well as resentment of Capitalism and the Capitalist pigs that kept the common worker down. Industrialization and Urbanization as well as worker abuses led to this philosopher guy who thought there was a better way. Someone named Marx I think. Perhaps the answer to China's urbanization, unrest, and industrialization that is causing all the repression is to implement that guy Marx's ideas and get rid of the Capitalist Pigs that run everything... wait... damn. Well, it was worth a thought."

Freedom of choice and Accuracy in voting is a winning combination. I hope.

Vote NO on Higher Property Taxes

One last post on the Special Madison School Board Referendum to Permanently Authorize Property Taxation in excess of State Revenue Caps. I can’t pretend to present the case for a YES vote better than the Madison's Progressive Daily. The Capital Times Editorial: Yes Votes Essential, because look at what voting NO entails.

Claim: “They want to sacrifice the quality of Madison schools and the city's long tradition of providing the resources needed to maintain that quality.”
Emotional Scare Word: sacrifice
Supporting Evidence: None – take it on faith.

Claim: “Whatever the motivation of the opponents, however, the change that will result from the defeat of any of Tuesday's three referendums is the same: Quality will suffer.
Emotional Scare Word: suffer
Supporting Evidence: None – take it on faith.

Claim: “But it is also a dangerous calculation, as the needs these proposals address are real. Failing to meet those needs will not make them go away and indeed could create greater needs - and greater expenses - in the future.”
Emotional Scare Words: dangerous, failing
Supporting Evidence: None – take it on faith.

Claim: “We understand that the school district will not collapse if the referendums are defeated. Children will still be educated. But educational quality will slide. And then massive infusions of new tax dollars would be needed to get standards back up to the point where they are now.”
Emotional Scare Word: none
Supporting Evidence: None – take it on faith.

There is some evidence that rational Madison citizens are beginning to see through the illogic of a total reliance on emotional appeals as evidenced in this post by Tracy.

“I had a conversation with a father at our kids "Spring Strings Concert" last week. A program for 4th and 5th graders to get music teaching that is "threatened with cancellation" if the referendum does not pass. I was undecided until speaking with him, now I am firmly opposed. The School Board often uses popular programs as "examples" of programs that will have to be cut to push financing increases. Frankly, I am willing to call the bluff.”

If you live in the Madison School District Vote NO Tomorrow. If you live outside the Madison School District, then pay attention because if this money grab works it will be copied throughout Wisconsin.

Shameless Agitator

Thank you Wigderson Library & Pub and Badger Blogger and Badger Blog Alliance, especially Jiblog, for helping start Statewide awareness of the Special Referendum problems in Madison. Special thanks to Sanity in Mad City and Dummocrats for helping to focus attention on the election issues this last weekend prior to the vote. I found one out of State posting at Rosenblog.

There are 190 Cities in Wisconsin and they are free to use taxation to raise revenue in any way that does not explicitly counteract State Law. The Cieslewicz administration has consistently demonstrated a willingness to try new and unique polices, and once they are allowed in Madison, they can be copied anywhere else in the State. Recall that local minimum wage, smoking prohibition and phosphate bans all started in Madison prior to being adopted by other Wisconsin cities. Any checks on city government behavior must come from the State, so it is wise for the Chippewa Valley and the Fox Valley and the entire Milwaukee metro area to pay attention when Madison attempts a big money grab.

Just prior the Referendum Ballot story breaking, Bryan Smith at Sanity in Mad City posed me a few questions about music. Bryan, these are your answers. There are no music files on my computer. Recorded music is stored in my jukebox. The last CD I bought was King Crimson Discipline because I really enjoyed the times I watched the guitar work of Adrian Belew up close. There is no music on at the moment and I’m administratively replacing the five song list with five memorable moments of unrecorded music since this blog began in February 2005.

Ratdog at the Orpheum, Groovulous Glove at King Club, The Junkers Reunion at the Crystal Corner Bar, Dale Watson at Ginny's Little Longhorn Saloon and today.

Moma Digdown’s Brass Band marches a twisting line as they move through the crowd playing the same instruments that played at Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural. Eight guys with only horns and percussion and righteous exquisite exorbitance. It’s literally live music outside in the nice warm air with no strings attached. I purchase a $1.00 button from the International Socialist Workers Party table that reads “I’m a Shameless Agitator”.

Thank You Badger Blog Alliance

Madison is not Las Vegas. Madison voted out a Casino and what happens in Madison spreads across the State of Wisconsin. When Madison’s right to impose business with a higher minimum wage requirement was challenged in State Court, the Court allowed it to stand because it was not in logical conflict with State Law. Wisconsin municipal governments can rightfully do anything the State of Wisconsin does not forbid them to do. This includes a right to exceed state school district spending caps if voters approve the increase in taxation.

Madison School District Question 2 authorizes spending increases without making it clear that spending increase means tax increase. The word tax is nowhere on the ballot even though the increased spending can only be achieved by increased taxation. This is wording designed to obtain a yes vote rather than putting an unbiased question to a citizen. The resolution includes the phrase “and continuing thereafter” which creates a permanent right to place debt obligation upon city property owners above the debit limit authorized by the State. A debt which is reapplied year after year at the discretion of the government. A debt which can never be satisfied.

The issue with the election is that a majority of one vote can grant this permanent power to tax property even if only three people vote. Elections are devises for measuring the will of the citizens and like any measurement there can be variations in accuracy. If three people vote, no statistical theory will assert that this small a sample is an accurate representation of the majority. The smaller the sample the easier it is for the measured result to be divergent from the true reality. This is how the system is set up and it will take State Level Legislation to build in public safe guards against these special elections designed to favor and obtain a specific result. This vote is for unlimited millions of dollars.

If this election passes by a small majority the accuracy of the results must be questioned and the first question to ask is how the actual voters were identified? The way it works in Madison is that I speak my name and address and if it matches what is printed on the list then I get to vote. This is voter self-identification. The city did nothing to confirm my identity and therefore has no basis for claiming a Madison resident did the actual voting. The voter lists are just printed pages and copies can be made and lines memorized. Hi, my name is “filling in the blank” and I live at “state address”.

Election Fraud in Madison?

Shouting FIRE is always a hard choice to make but I do want to point out that there is SMOKE. Late on Friday afternoon with only one business day before the Madison School District spending referendum, city officials announced that the printed ballots sent to the “standing list” of 2,200 absentee voters have the wrong wording. Everyone in Wisconsin needs to be extra vigilant about potential Election Fraud in Madison.

“Madison school officials say corrected ballots will be ready at the polls in time for voters on Tuesday but all the absentee ballots have been shipped with the incorrect wording.”

The School Spending Referendum Questions are presented to the public in a one time, one issue, three questions, off cycle special late spring work day election Tuesday! May 24, 2005. The school district is asking for PERMINANT AUTHORIZATION to exceed State revenue caps. A successful referendum outcome locks in large amounts of money for the school districts expanded employee base despite the flat student enrollment.

“District officials said that while enrollment is down over those 10 years the staff has grown by 436 full time employees. This needs clarification: Actually, it's up even more than that -- it's 653 positions, News 3 reported.”

Is it too late to get Jimmy Carter to come monitor this election?

A Coming Skirmish in the Larger Battle

Last evening a small roomful of people gathered in a Monona, Wisconsin restaurant to be aroused into action. Kevin Pomeroy, Planning Director of 1000 Friends of Wisconsin is present to outline the strategy and tactics for fighting off Wal-Mart. In his own words: "My presentation is intended to be provocative. I'm an advocate," Pomeroy said. "I'm painted throughout the state as anti-Wal-Mart and I'm proud of it."

1000 Friends of Wisconsin is a self-defined advocacy group that incorporates multiple lines of liberal thinking and distills them concisely into the slogan on their homepage: Perfecting the Places We Live and Protecting the Places We Don’t. There is so much blog talk about the lack of an expressed Democratic Party agenda for the country, but there is one and it is black and white. People need to live in cities where they can be lovingly and effectively governed and the countryside becomes a nature preserve. Consider the summation goal of their Mission Statement.

“AND A WISCONSIN WHERE all citizens recognize their responsibility to contribute to their communities and the well being of the state and nation, and do so in ways that balance self-interest with an obligation to the common good and future generations.”

What is expected of citizens? 1. Contribute to their community (government). 2. Fulfill their obligation to the community (government). The fact that the socialists hate Wal-Mart is not news and this coming scuffle in Monona is merely another skirmish in the ongoing struggle to preserve and expand citizen liberty. Monona is a small town adjacent to Madison and they should be concerned when Madison interests attempt to control the design of their community.

Cieslewicz Supports Higher Taxes - Again

Mayor Cieslewicz predictably came out in support of the Madison School Board Property Tax Increase Referendum. This is not news in the sense that Mayor Dave is a true believer in “progressive government” meaning he is in love with the conceptual “good” his vision of Madison promises city residents. The socialists are in control and on plan with their vision of a new “model city” with progressive administration.

Earlier today I heard a radio report claiming Mayor Cieslewicz justifies his support of the Property Tax Increase Referendum with the argument that good schools will attract homebuyers, resulting in increasing property values for Madison homeowners. In Democrat logik, since Property Tax equals Property Value then increasing Property Tax means increasing Property Value. The Mayor is earnestly working to find people who will literally buy into his vision. Invest in Madison and make money.

Earlier this week the City Council voted to allow low interest home loans to foreign nationals. The vote was not even close. Joel Rogers, Matt Mayrl, Janet Piraino, Jeanne Hoffman and Dave Cieslewicz are building their vision of an urban utopia and they want to sell shares of their model to any qualified buyer. The model city will have streetcars. The model city will be neighborly, eco-friendly, living wage enabled and selectively business friendly. If your business, for example a tobacco bar, doesn’t fit the grand design then absolute prohibition applies. Freedom is a relative concept after all.

If I were non-citizen I would apply for financing to buy a piece of this dream and would not be concerned about my right to vote. Taxation without representation is one of those nice sounding phrases rich people use. When you have a family to raise and the government offers you a chance at owning a home with good schools for your children, then what difference do lofty words on paper make. If the government offers to help pay for your healthcare, all the better. The Democratic Party knows better than any other organization that voting can be manipulated with psychology and cash. The rest of us should keep in mind that money and power do not keep us free; our ideals keep us free.

Velvet Darkness

Amidst all the financed hyperbole of the Star Wars Episode III opening this week, the long history of the Star Wars phenomenon has had ample attention. From the original movie release in May 1977 to the present, the film attracted and still maintains an extremely loyal fan base. A year and half earlier in September 1975 another film, a single film, also generated a loyal fan following persisting to this day. The story is still being told on stage in Madison.

Velvetdarkness The Rocky Horror Picture Show – Theater Cast

The Rocky Horror Picture Show started playing in Madison at The Majestic Theatre in May of 1978 and Madison's first shadow cast, The Dark Refrain, formed in 1984.

Our next show is May 21st, and it's Goth/Fetish Night!!! Come dressed in your favorite goth or fetish attire and participate in the costume contest to win FABULOUS PRIZES!!!

Interested in joining cast? Download an application (.rtf format) and bring it to a show!

If you apply for a position be prepared to answer the yes/no question: Are you willing to be in public in your underwear? I wonder if any “computer models” of social behavior accurately predicted this thirty year old occurrence.

The Coming Skin Crisis

The daily tour around the blogsphere demonstrates the concerns of the present are adequately analyzed so it’s a good evening to search for “the problems of tomorrow”. I don’t mean stuff like global warming which is a fictional horror story fronting a political agenda. I’m more interested in issues which will become common and complex enough to get future politicians to going “Howard Dean” on each other. Today’s candidate has great potential to be controversial by mid-century: Robot Skin.

Vladimir Lumelsky apparently picked up shop and left the UW Madison’s Robotics Laboratory for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center to continue his mission to provide robots a way to feel their environment. As robots become increasing common and begin working in ever close proximity to humans, the thinking goes that you may want them to notice your presence and move to avoid a collision.

"Robots move well on their own, especially when nothing is in the way," Lumelsky explained. However, change the environment and a different picture emerges. "Robots should be able to react, but today's robots can't," he said. "That's the difference and that's got to change for exploration."

In other words, if you want automatons to reach out and touch something they need feeling. Therein lays the embryo of a developing mid-century ethical crisis. Once you have feelings you open the door for hurt feelings and the trial lawyers start lining up. George Lucas got it wrong when he gave R2D2 and C3P0 Jules Verne era bodies. When the global corporations gain control and perfect this technology all the robots will be ……… sensual?

NEWS: John Nichols Parties in St.Louis

Capital Times Editor and Madison uber-liberal John Nichols is attending the 2nd National Conference for Media Reform which concludes today. Nichols is a founder and board member of the organization Free Press, and it is his expressed desire that this meeting is the beginning of a movement to change the organizational structure of American Media. In the John Nichols view of the world, the problem is that news content is bad because the system is bad. Free Press FAQ: “Is the problem with the media bad or incompetent owners and employees?”

“No. … The main problem is that the structure of the media system makes socially dubious behavior — e.g. lousy journalism, violent and mindless entertainment, hypercommercialism — the rational outcome. … If we wish to change the nature of media content we need to change the cues so that good journalism and quality material will be the rational product of its operations. To do that requires that we change the government policies that shape and direct the media system. That is why Free Press exists.”

In other words, the uber-left is convinced that a "for profit" structure of news delivery inevitably produces a product they don’t like. The structure of the American Media is spelled out in extensive detail in the 2005 The State of the News Media Report. This is a long detailed study but two phrases from the Executive Summary PDF capture the essence of the ongoing change.

“Today technology is transforming citizens from passive consumers of news produced by professionals into active participants who can assemble their own journalism. The era of "Trust Me" journalism has passed and the era of "Show Me" journalism has begun.”

The Free Press website has speaker lists and links to bloggers covering the St. Louis conference and it strikes me the complaints distill down to a concern the capitalist system is allowing the public to decide what they want to know rather than what they need to know. In uber-left thinking, when a for profit corporation makes news product decisions based on what the public wants, the corporations are inappropriately acting as “gatekeepers” deciding what is important.

News Hounds Report: Naomi Klein: “She made the point that all liberal/progressive causes - environmentalism, reproductive rights, civil rights, anti-war sentiments, health care, increasing poverty, etc. - come up against the same wall, the mass media. Our concerns are not given coverage and debate, with the media gatekeepers deciding what is "important" to Americans and the world. Unfortunately they confirm and celebrate the very worst, they are credulous of power and contemptuous of powerless, they cheer bombs and jeer anti-war activists. … She said we don't need to reform the media, we need to revolutionize it!”

It seems to me that every single “liberal/progressive cause” Naomi Klein references has been covered over and over and over and over and over and over. If the John Nichols liberals don’t like how the public has responded to the news coverage, I still don’t understand how that is a result of corporate profit concerns censoring “ideas”. The progressive left agenda is failing because their logic is flawed, but at least they have a good time when they do gather together to complain.

Wetmachine Report: “Bob McChesney spoke on how this is a broad movement not just limited to left wing progressives. Of course, 90% of the audience *are* left wing progressives. So when he rhetorically asked “Are we just trying to tear down Rush Limbaugh and put Al Franken in his place?” Some folks got confused and shouted “YES” and big applause.”

PS: Kudos to Dummocrats Traffic Growth in an environment where Blog Traffic is Down Since the Election. As with all prior media incarnations, quality over time will prove out.

Honky Tonk Night

Saturday night is date night and Lola is grooming up real pretty for a night out in Madtown. We are heading for the Junkers Reunion at the Crystal. The old Willy Street watering hole does not have the long history of Ginny’s Little Roadhouse in Austin, but there will be honky tonking on the Isthmus tonight. Pupy Costello opens and then the scattered pieces of the Junkers get assembled one last time. TheJunkers.com is for sale if you want the domain name for future business or blog endeavors.

As a side note, morganfreeman.com is no longer available. The United Nations reclaimed it from cybersquatters and gave it back to the Oscar Winning Actor.

Update: 5/16/2005: Lola notes it is “Ginny’s Little Longhorn Saloon” in Austin. Lola knows Honky-Tonk and she is correct. Kenneth Burns and the rest of The Junkers wowed a packed house with one last performance for old time’s sake. Very well done guys! Kenneth is a Madison blogger at http://backwithinterest.blogspot.com/, and is working on multiple projects including a new music endeavor. Pupy Costello is definitely worth hearing on Wednesday nights at the Crystal.

sssshh! Madison Moonbat Thinking

There is a wonderful example of Madison Liberal Logik posted today at this web address:( http://www.pastpeak.com/archives/2005/05/the_price_of_be.htm ) This is a copy and paste project because to observe the true behavior of a Madison Moonbat you must remain hidden and quiet. If they realize you are watching they get agitated and flustered.

A synopsis of the story goes as follows. A local Madison resident is writing about a National Public Radio program where a prominent environmentalist author tempers his gloomy predictions just slightly enough to find glimmers of hope for mankind and nature to co-exist “at the local level”. The wisdom of Think Global, Act Local, Eat Local is perfectly clear, obviously rational and worthy of great praise.

“One calorie's worth of California iceberg lettuce requires 90 calories of petroleum energy to bring it to your table. (Maybe we should visualize our typical salads as swimming in a big bowl of diesel fuel. Now, that's appealing.) Clearly, a local food economy is a lot more rational than what we have now, and, as the age of cheap oil winds down, it's going to become increasingly necessary for our very survival. Any other way of doing things will come to seem crazy.”

The story then turns to a personal journey of discovery as the writer leaves Madison to visit Ashland, Wisconsin. Near the edge of true wilderness he experiences first hand the rapture of rural community poverty. In this place “absolute good” can be obtained.

“It was a wonderful visit and a deep learning experience. The Ashland area is rural, northwoods Wisconsin, and people generally have a lower economic standard of living there than many people do here in Madison. They have chores that urban folks don't even think about. But they also have deep bonds of community and a progressive ethos that suffuses every aspect of their lives. They are happier, more grounded, more connected with their environment and with one another — by far — than the great majority of city-dwellers. In their neck of the woods, community is an absolute good, friendships are deep, and newcomers are welcomed.”

North of Highway 29 there are places where everyone is a neighbor and all neighbors are friends. Chores like shopping take a little longer but that is a price worth paying to live in local harmony with authentic individuals like store owner Harry Demorest.

“For the tea, we stopped off to see a neighbor named Harry Demorest who runs a coffee, tea, and spice business out of a little workshop out back of his farmhouse. When we turned into the gravel driveway, we were greeted by Harry's dog, barking excitedly. Harry heard the barking and emerged from a shed in back. He took us into his fragrant, impeccably organized workshop, filled with containers of coffee, tea, and spices from all over the world. Organic products, handled with a craftsman's care.”

Madison Moonbat Logik: Act Local, Eat Local, Drink whatever arrives in cargo holds. Season to taste.

School in Broad Brush Strokes

When are you completely educated? The Madison School Board wants more money and that means higher property taxes. Education is a massive financial segment of the overall economy, but the supply and demand principles of economics are distorted by the unlimited demand for knowledge. In an infinitely complex world complete understanding is impossible. The limits on learning are desire and resources and time. Because there is no endpoint to be achieved the question becomes when is a person adequately educated?

The School Board referendum is coming up for a citizen vote on a work day, Tuesday May 24, 2005. This will be a special single issue election knowingly calculated to avoid the high turnout of broader contests. The issues are reasonably presented here with links to groups on both sides of the yes/no divide.

The education debate will be a contentious political struggle as long as financing is primarily achieved by a permanent debt obligation upon property owners. This financing system of the past was fair to the degree that children were a probable outcome of sex and society benefited from children having a basic education. For the last two generations, however, having children is an option, and families with fewer children allow parents to focus more resources on a greater breadth of learning for each child. In the reality of planned families, the old way of funding education is increasingly unfair to segments of the population. Fairness can only be approached when those people who decide to have children assume a higher portion of the cost of their education.

The Wrong Solution to the Meth Problem

If Governor Doyle signs the Crackdown on Meth Bill, a.k.a. the “Sudafed Law”, I hope the media demands an explanation of the blatant hypocrisy of requiring a photo ID to buy cold pills while accepting verbal self identification to vote. This is a classic case of politicians overreacting to a legitimate social problem and taking the easy way out for themselves. It is easier for the government to manipulate the behavior of law abiding citizens by creating regulations that criminals will ignore, than it is to focus efforts on the specific problem individuals.

I’m certain that the politicians were given information similar to the Iowa "Opinion" Survey (PDF File). The State of Iowa did a "telephone survey” of 410 citizens to demonstrate public support for restricting pseudoephedrine sales. Observe how a scripted series of questions starts with establishing that people buy cold medications then moves to “establish the danger”, “create an urgency to correct the danger” and “gain agreement that the proposed solution is no big deal”.

Q6: In Iowa and elsewhere, some people are removing the pseudoephedrine from these medications to manufacture methamphetamine, commonly known as meth. Have you ever heard that this was happening?
Q7: Do you think the manufacture of meth using pseudoephedrine is a major problem, a minor problem, or not a problem at all?
Q8a: How much of an inconvenience to you would it be if people were limited in the quantity of these medications they could buy at one time?
Q8b: How much of an inconvenience to you would it be if people had to show a photo-ID to buy them?

The important thing to remember is that pseudoephedrine is not a dangerous chemical, methamphetamine is a dangerous chemical. The vast majority of methamphetamine in the United States is produced in Mexico in industrial quantities. Foreign drug cartels aren’t shoplifting five boxes of Sine-off from Walgreen’s. If this law passes there will probably be unintended adverse consequences since local amateur criminals will steal what they can no longer purchase. Finally where is the concern for my “right to privacy” in personal healthcare?

Using over the counter medicines to treat minor health matters is none of the Government’s business, and I will resent the Wisconsin Legislature for making my life more difficult with a “solution” that won’t work. The following sources cover the meth “epidemic” in extensive detail. Mara Zusman’s Paper for a Harvard Law School class has working links to anywhere you want to go to understand the issue.

Methamphetamine Defined “Meth is a man-made drug. There are two primary methods for cooking meth, P-2-P and ephedrine reduction. Both processes received their name from the primary precursor (ingredients) chemicals used in the production of meth. The P-2-P (phenyl-2-propanone) method is primarily used by large drug cartels in Mexico. … The prohibition against P-2-P in the United States has resulted in almost a total reliance upon ephedrine reduction.”

Mara Zusman Paper “Two different types of drug producers use pseudoephedrine to make methamphetamine. Small-scale illicit drug producers (“amateurs”), who account for 20% of the production of methamphetamine, acquire pseudoephedrine by either buying or stealing vast quantities of Sudafed, Sinutab, or Afrin. … Large-scale illicit drug producers (“professionals”), who account for 80% of the methamphetamine supply, acquire pseudoephedrine by buying “tens of millions of pseudoephedrine tablets per month [from] rogue chemical companies” or by buying it from Canadian companies and then use the pseudoephedrine to produce methamphetamine in “super-laboratories” in the United States and Mexico.”

Unfilmed Scenes

The night air is somewhere between perfect and ideal, so I kiss Lola on her forehead then head out for a walk. The thinnest sliver of moonlight hangs over the western horizon as I walk past the thin line of red lights overhead in the business district. After a couple of miles I’m back at the Jeep and fire up the motor. It’s exactly 9:11 on the clock. A minute later the radio is playing Leonard Cohen singing “Jazz Police” and an ambulance with flashing lights flies past in the opposite direction. I head for a tavern and order a pint. The blues band plays “Sweet Home Chicago” and I order a second round.

Cybercrime in Madison's Bi-Weekly World

A cybercrime is being alleged even as you read this sentence.

The Victim: "The Madison Observer, a progressive bi-weekly, is taking legal action against the conservative bi-weekly The Mendota Beacon, based on allegations that the Beacon is cybersquatting two Observer web domains."

The Law: "The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act is a federal law that took affect on November 29, 1999. This new domain name dispute law is intended to give trademark and service mark owners’ legal remedies against defendants who obtain domain names "in bad faith" that are identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark."

The evidence: http://madisonobserver.net/ and http://madisonobserver.com.

Building a Model City in Madison

Kudos to the Wisconsin State Journal for doing actual “research reporting” for TIF: A High Stakes Game. Staff reporter Dean Mosiman writes a solid overview of how the City of Madison is utilizing Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) to shape the building boom in Capital City. More interestingly, the piece demonstrates how the “New Urbanist” political ideology of Mayor Cieslewicz is guiding the use of this powerful tool. A central tenet of faith in New Urbanist thinking is that urban sprawl is bad, therefore, high density mixed use residential areas served by light rail is good.

“These days, as developers make bigger requests, the buzzwords are mixed-use, jobs, parking, lower-cost housing, and transportation - the latter meaning streetcars to the mayor.” … “The mayor, concerned that TIF is inadvertently inflating land prices, wants to strengthen policy against covering excessive property costs. And he wants to use TIF for groceries and to invest in streetcars instead of costly underground parking.”

The Wisconsin TIF Program was established to help municipal governments stimulate development in blighted or underdeveloped areas that would not otherwise occur. TIF Details (PDF File) covers the nuts and bolts of the program. The key trick is establishing a base tax rate in a specified area, and for as long as an approved project is underway in that area, any tax revenue above base values goes to pay for the project. Once the project is paid off, the city, in theory, benefits from a higher property tax base.

The TIF program was never conceived as a way to build an idealized city, but when the State rules changed to allow for “mixed use” developments, it opened the door to “model building.” Mayor Dave is an adherent of the Center On Wisconsin Strategy (COWS) and works closely with both Joel Rogers and Matthew Mayrl on policy decisions. Mayrl highlights COWS concerns that business will leave the City for open spaces as evidenced in Epic's Relocation out of Madison, and the COWS are proposing reforms the TIF program to re-focus the projects back into urban centers.

COWS: TIF Reform: “TIF underwent a major overhaul during the 2003–04 legislative session that amended TIF statutes to loosen the rules for which projects are eligible for TIF funding, authorizing TIF funding for “mixed-use” developments for the first time. … By treating all projects equally, TIF has cut urban areas’ ability to use TIF as an effective development incentive in addressing blight and decayed infrastructure. Urban redevelopment projects are treated no differently than retail developments, and, just as blighted areas receive little attention under traditional market incentives, they continue to be ignored under TIF.”

The Cieslewicz administration in the meantime is using the tools at hand to lock Madison into long term TIF projects which have a goal of crowding the center of the city with condo’s and little shops which can be serviced by little trolleys. The State limits the dollar amount of TIF projects a municipality can create so the more the Cieslewicz administration grants high dollar projects for “philosophical reasons”, the less flexibility future administrations will have for other needs.

The Return of the Demonic Rebel

Newt Gingrich lead the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives in 1994 and was “demonized” by the Democrats for his success. The level of hatred Newt inspires in the left is wonderfully summarized in the Boot Newt Songbook. His sudden resignation from Congress in November 1998 prompted a wide range of responses including David Horowitz’s assessment that … “he's not really a politician. He's more of a rebel than a statesman. He is full of ideas and they pop out of him all the time.”

I have a fondness for rebels with ideas even if not every idea turns out to be brilliant. The old History Professor is currently out promoting his latest bound volume of collected musings and a few weeks ago Harvard actually allowed him onto campus to give a talk. People study the past because you can’t study the future. The transcript is from the “official site of the former Speaker of the House” and this small section caught my fancy.

Harvard Speech: “Here's my proposition to all of you. We are about to face the largest scale of challenge we have had since 1980. The political, governmental system in the United States is not capable of developing answers internally, and never has been. There's not a single major movement in American politics that starts in Washington. … Everyone one of them starts first in the countryside with people talking to each other. And mostly it's common sense.”

Snippets

“… our very expensive Washington DC lawyers. They bill in eight minute increments so I try and keep my calls under eight minutes.” This seems interesting enough to look up from bored doodling of little red and blue scribbles. It’s Friday afternoon before Mothers Day and no one wants to work hard, especially now that the good spring weather is back. Later on around town, boats suddenly appear everywhere and the bait shop at Dorn’s Hardware is busy even late in the evening. Lola’s back in town, dinner out is a pleasant adventure and the weekend is underway.

Governor Doyle Protects His Base

Less than a week after his veto of the Wisconsin Accurate Vote bill, Governor Jim Doyle is spending the day at the Nation’s Capital in an effort to prevent the demilitarization of the Dairy State. The pentagon is beginning another round of base closures and no good Governor wants to lose weapons, and no Democrat Governor wants to lose money. Consider what is at stake.

From the Governors Office: “The total economic impact of the state’s military bases is significant. More than 8,200 military, civilian, and contract workers are employed by the state’s military bases and generate an estimated $918 million annually into the economy.”

This is money that WEAC can potentially use for teacher benefits so even though war is bad for children and other living things, the uber-union may forgive their Governor being friendly to the "War Machine". The Madison uber-socialist crowd may find it harder to forgive him for sounding like he takes actual pride in the concept of American self defense.

Doyle's Letter to the Army: (PDF File) “And Wisconsin’s bases also provide unmatched capabilities for carrying out critical missions to protect homeland security. For example, the 115th Fighter Wing at Truax Field is the closest Fighter Wing to Chicago – only 7 minutes flight time away – playing a key role in Operation Noble Eagle.”

Less than a week after his veto of the Wisconsin Accurate Vote bill, Governor Jim Doyle is making a case that he needs to defend Chicago. At first I was perplexed but then it dawned on me, the Governor is simply protecting his voters.

Mayor Dave Achieves World Peace

This week Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz is attending the Mayors for Peace conference at the United Nations New York Headquarters. The expressed mission of this organization of “Sister Cities” is the “Total Abolition of Nuclear Weapons”. At first I thought this an inappropriate use of municipal taxpayer dollars until I realized this UN registered non-governmental organization has a Plan to Achieve Word Peace - PDF Format, which just might work. The plan is in the form of a chart but it reads exactly as follows.

Objectives: “Achieve World Peace. Solve problems that threaten peaceful coexistence, including environmental destruction, hunger, poverty and violence.”

System of Measures: “Arouse international public opinions regarding resolution of the problems. Work in collaboration with international organizations. Enhance awareness of human rights protection. Civilian conversion of military industries. Efforts to protect global environment. Promote projects with NGO’s and int’l institutions.”

Actions Plans: “Prepare teaching materials regarding human rights protection. Study approaches to be taken by Mayors Conference toward creating peace industries. Study global environmental protection measures in model cities. Develop and implement projects in collaboration with NGO’s and international institutions”

This is brilliant thinking and the only thing that could possibly stop the coming age of UN delivered world peace would be if the “Axis of Evil” held out. It turns out I was overly concerned because the cities of Tehran and Damascus Renounce Nuclear Weapons. Who knew Mayor Dave is helping bring about peace in the Middle East. Pyongyang is the only city left standing in the way of global harmony and happiness and a few hundred thousand megatons could quickly remove this last barrier. I am so glad I have progressive local leadership.

So Sad Capital Times

I stopped reading newspapers the day the New York Times editorial page called for mob rule. They phrased it in terms of abolishing the Electoral College in favor of direct popular vote, but the consequences would be the same. Part of the genius that has allowed the American Revolution to thrive, is that democracy is an operational method within independently structured states, and then again within the national federation.

In the 18th Century there was no way of knowing how similar this is to how the brain works. Consider that all the charges within each cell are totaled and then the individual neuron either fires or it doesn’t. The pattern of those multiple yes/no decisions at the cell level subsequently determine how the mind as a whole thinks.

Newspapers coming off of printing presses were a major factor in shaping the structure, goals and ideas of the Great American Experiment, but it appears their role is in steady decline. An Associated Press report today says nationally Newspaper Circulation Falls 1.9%. Paid subscriptions peaked in 1984 just as cable TV and the internet were becoming widespread in American homes. Not all the Wisconsin papers suffered equally.

“Circulation at The Capital Times fell 1.9 percent, matching the national average. At the Wisconsin State Journal, daily circulation dropped 0.8 percent and Sunday circulation fell 4.1 percent. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the state's largest newspaper, saw its circulation drop 0.8 percent daily and 4.4 percent on Sunday.”

The Capital Times could not exist anywhere outside of Madison. In Madtown there is still an audience willing to pay to read people like Joel McNally, who writes “serious” articles arguing that photo IDs are to replace dogs and hoses as Republican attempts to disenfranchise minority voting rights. (HT Jiblog.) If circulation figures are a valid indicator, however, then perhaps there is a declining taste for moonbats like John Nichols who, like Ward Churchill, believes the US is the problem the rest of the planet is attempting to solve. (HT Sanity in Mad City) How the Capital Times stays alive and continues to behave like a trust fund baby who has never really had to be responsible is beyond my understanding.

Governor Doyle Shoots Down Voter ID

Democratic Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle waited until moments before 5 pm Friday April 29, 2005 and then vetoed the Wisconsin Voter ID bill in its entirety. The timing is an old school political trick when a politician wants to avoid the limelight. Wisconsin Governors have line item veto power, but there was nothing in this bill he considered worth enacting. Being politicians, both sides exchanged press releases with the Republicans planning an override of the veto and the Democrats letting third party groups defend the Governor.

The following excerpts illustrate the differences in thinking between the two parties. Republicans make a case that the problem with recent elections is one of accuracy. An election is a measurement and accuracy is the most important aspect of any measurement. The Democrats have no problem with the accuracy of recent elections, so in their thinking any problems are administrative. Elections are data collection processes and in the Democrat perspective, all the problems are simply matters of inefficiency in the operation.

Rep. Leibham outlines the problems: “It is disheartening that the number of illegitimate votes cast is equivalent to the population of many Wisconsin cities and our Governor is doing nothing to rectify the problem,” said Graber. “Voter ID is a simple measure that could help ensure accuracy at the polls and restore faith in our election system.”

Wisconsin Voting Rights Coalition: “The problems that plague our voting system are over-worked and undertrained poll workers, who often face a crush of last-minute voters that overwhelm the system. As proposed by the Governor, the solution to these problems begins with having mandatory training and promoting early voting.”

Gov. Doyle Vetoes Voter ID Bill: "While requiring a Voter ID bill might seem like a good idea at first, it will do nothing to correct the management and process problems that have been identified in our elections,"

PDF File of the Veto Text. “AB 63 does not prevent felons from voting. It does not prevent individuals from voting twice or ensure that the address appearing on a photo ID card is in fact accurate and up to date. AB 63 does not make the lines at polling places any shorter or make them move any faster. And it does not make the job of poll workers any easier.”

Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Response: “We hope the state legislature will attempt to override his veto and give voters the security they deserve in knowing their vote will not be canceled out by those who abuse the system.”

In an ideal world the process is both accurate and efficient, but accuracy always needs to be the first priority.

We Believe Bad Luck Goes Away

Lola and I first became aware of Cambridge Wisconsin native Matt Kenseth in 1997, when Robbie Reiser gave him a ride in the NASCAR Busch Series. Over the years we became fans while watching the “local boy makes good” story unfold. By 2003 Matt was NASCAR Champion. Last week I told Lola that Matt Kenseth is having the worst of season of any racecar driver ever. She doubts that but there is much discussion of fan frustration on the Matt Kenseth Message Board.

“What's wrong with Matt Kenseth? He's never been a good qualifier but he'd usually pass the field and finish in the top five or 10. For the last 15 races he hasn't qualified or finished well. He is staying consistent like always, but now it's consistently bad. Why is he suddenly struggling when most of the other Roush drivers are doing well?”

The theories include “chemistry” issues between, Matt, Robbie and owner Jack Roush, an inability to adapt to the new spoiler angle rules or the tire set up needed for this season’s version of Goodyear’s. Has Matt lost competitive drive? Does Robbie need to be replaced? Is the team resting on their laurels from past glories? Perhaps the race results this year are not determined by emotional or technical matters in the workshops. Auto racing at this highest level is extremely difficult and competitive, so the reason may be as simple as bad luck.

Going into today’s race at Talladega, only four drivers have lead more laps this year, and Matt’s poor finishes are the result of three blown tires while near the front, an engine failure which was a calculated risk that didn't work, a crash someone else started, and a penalty for speeding which may be a problem of trying to hard. With only 59 laps to go, Talladega served up the Big Crash which involved over half the cars on the track. As NASCAR put it “so many that two of the victims (Matt Kenseth, Casey Mears) went on to finish in the top 15.” Matt was again near the front of the race and managed to return and finish 11th. More importantly, he gained 5 positions in the points standings. The fan club faithful will be pleased and as one person stated:

"Lady luck doesnt play favorites. She will get bored with Matt and move onto JJ or Godron or Biffle, you'll see. It's all about the law of averages. I truly "believe" that!!!!"

Cieslewicz and the COWS for Urban Rail

Any one who wants a serious understanding of what’s happening with city government in Madison needs to understand why Mayor Dave Cieslewicz talks with Joel Rogers ninety minutes before his orientation meeting with the new Alderpersons. To put it succinctly, Dave is the actor and Joel is the director of an overtly socialist production they are staging in capital city. Mayor Dave calls it: “Making Madison the Most Progressive City in America.”

In the Mayor’s orientation talk I expect he discussed his Urban Rail Plan for Madison since this is critical to the overall goal of the New Urbanism the COWS want to impose on the city. In his one page overview, Cieslewicz mentions the Portland, Oregon urban rail system nine times with effusive adoration. Not everyone who lives in Portland shares this enthusiasm for pretty little trains as covered in these two posts from Danegerus.com.

Portland's MAX: “As I live in Portland, home of MAX, which we voted against twice, only to see highway funds diverted anyway, creating the cesspool of traffic jams that make us the most car-unfriendly city in America... I have complained at length about the misallocation of funds that is "Light-Rail" and expressed my confusion at the Lefties love of their choo-choo's.”

Portland's Interstate MAX: Problems between theory and reality.

“First, Interstate MAX will not be "fast." It takes 30 minutes to travel from the Expo Center to Pioneer Courthouse Square, a speed of roughly 15 mph. This offers no improvement over the No. 5 bus that currently runs down Interstate Avenue.”

“Second, Interstate MAX will be no more "reliable" than bus service. The January ice storms showed that light rail is vulnerable to total shutdown under extreme winter conditions, just when transit service is needed the most. Buses routinely come to the rescue when trains fail.”

“Third, Interstate MAX will not improve access to jobs and housing; it merely replaces an existing bus route.”

“Light rail is often touted as a congestion-relief strategy, but in fact Interstate MAX has already made traffic much worse; TriMet reduced North Interstate Avenue from four lanes to two lanes to obtain rail right-of-way. Traffic has increased on nearby parallel routes and few of the displaced motorists will use Interstate MAX.”

“In recent years, rail advocates have changed arguments, conceding that light rail is not really a transit strategy but a means to increase density in neighborhoods. Why is that desirable? People have steadily migrated from central cities to the suburbs for more than 100 years. The notion that light rail can reverse this trend not only ignores a broad consumer preference for low density, it also ignores the historical role of trains, which were used to move people out of overcrowded cities to new streetcar suburbs.”

Ideology that runs counter to the evidence of history needs to be questioned. The background is covered in prior post: COWS Running Madison and prior post: COWS Philosophy plus prior post: COW Thinking. Madison is a great city but past performance does not guarantee future success.

Unfilmed Scene

Lola is grinding up small baggies full of coffee in blatant violation of the foundation rule that coffee beans must be ground only moments before brewing. When challenged she replies that there is one bag for each day, plus a spare, because travel trumps the daily grind. I raise the possibility that San Diego probably has coffee, to which she replies, yes, ... hotel coffee.

She brushes the residual dust off the edge of the counter and into her hand which is held above the open dishwasher door. For a moment I picture her filling the detergent bins with Tanzanian Pea Berry powder in true belief that washing dishes in coffee would be an improvement over plain water. Lola dismisses my brainstorm but I file it away in memory and it may be an experiment to perform while she is away on business. After all, she has no expectations of returning home to a clean house.

Calcium Supplements Flunk

The British publication The Lancet is one of the oldest peer reviewed medical journals and studies they accept to print usually achieve the standards necessary to be considered “serious” medical research. This particular study has every major requirement for modern medical investigation: double blind, placebo controlled, long term (5.5yrs), large scale (5,292 people), multi-center (21 hospitals), and paid for with government funding supplemented by two different drug companies. Well, surprise, surprise, Calcium Supplements Are Unable to Prevent Fractures.

At the risk of being wrong, I am going to make an all inclusive universal assertion that the two most contentious subjects in human discussion are health and eating. After all, sex is good and killing is bad and sane people won’t spend hours in a tizzy defending the opposing point of view. Refined sugar, organic milk and shark cartilage, however, will drive large numbers of people to dogmatic points of view beyond the realm of evidence because they are self-obviously true. The press release is pretty standard but the comments on the findings are from all over the typical reaction spectrum.

Personal financial concern: “Much of what happens to us in our old age is directly related to how well we take care of ourselves early on and I would like to know if I'm wasting money on supplements in my 30's.”

Contempt and skepticism: “Aren't the editors of the Lancet aware that many suppliers use calcium citrate and di calcium phosphate? … There is no excuse for this kind of sloppy reporting.”

Anecdotal evidence proves the conclusion wrong: “After breaking bones in my left foot I took a course of both 'Oral Vitamin D and calcium'. When the X-ray plates were examined by the specialist at Christchurch Hospital, Dorset. He asked for the X-rays to be taken again, as the mend was so good and so fast he couldn't believe the X-rays were mine.”

Product plug anyway: “We have no financial holdings in this company but your readers might want to know that this combination is sold in the U.S. as Posture-D.”

Yeah but drugs don’t work either: “It has been my impression with much internet research that the new "bone building" medicines do not decrease fracture either. They may induce higher bone density but there has been no change in fracture stats.”

It’s the shoes: I propose that something simple is being overlooked in osteoporosis. Specifically, women suffer from osteoporosis disproportionately more than men. Could their higher-heeled shoes have anything to do with it?

You should have listened to your Mother! “I guess there's no substitute for exercise and eating your greens. All you supplement people should throw these dopey hopes that they will save you out the window and go exercise.”

It’s your crappy lifestyle: “According to the research I have conducted, Osteoporosis can be attributed to the high intake of animal protein, lack of sunlight, lack of exercise, too much junk and sugary foods, too much salt, smoking, alcohol and stress.”

It’s a capitalist plot by Coke and Pepsi: “Is this another ploy of the drug companies to market more drugs? Osteoporosis is the result of demineralizing of the bones. A drug will not reverse this. A major factor in demineralizing is the drinking of carbonated beverages. The phosphoric acid in the pop leaches out the minerals, causing severe imbalances over time.”

It’s the cows! “Were the participants in the study continuing to ingest dairy and meat products during the testing period (possibly under the impression that they needed to rebuild their bones using such things)?”

How Old is Horicon Marsh?

A Sanity in Mad City post courtesy of the Dummocrats Daily Page covers a difference of opinion between “environmentalists” groups. The point of contention is whether a Chicago corporation should be allowed to build a large scale “wind farm” in close proximity to one of North America’s largest migratory bird stops. Wisconsin’s Horicon Marsh is the largest freshwater cattail wetland area in the United States. If you are “Green” inclined, then alternative energy sources like wind power generated electricity should be good, however, a number of people are convinced that current windmill designs are bird killers and bat destroyers.

This little tiff in the greenhouse is an excellent reminder that there are many subgroups in the environmentalist universe, with various priorities based on their individual cherished values. Sea Green and Forest Green factions tend to support each other in principle but each group has their priority cause to fight. Spring Greens, Lawn Greens, Emerald, Olive and Jade Greens all have their own little niches in ecology world. The Lime Greens, those predatory fruity fringe moonbats, are actually old fashioned Red Socialists in disguise.

How old is Horicon Marsh? The way a person answers that question can be a good clue as to what type of green values they hold. The answer can be found in the Horicon Marsh Environmental History. The story begins about 400 human generations in the past as the glaciers melted away on a warming planet. Environmental “activists” who believe that problems are local and can be corrected with limited local solutions are often worthy of our support and encouragement. Those activists who believe the problems on the planet result from global pathologies requiring universal changes in human behavior are the ones that constitute the very real “Green” danger to our free society.

Photos Not Taken

The sky is filled with heavy gray rain clouds, and when sunshine slips through and highlights the special chartreuse green of spring leaves against that thick dark background, it is exactly as if Van Gogh has momentary control of the universe. Lola assembles and bakes a pizza for dinner and as the early darkness sets in, I set out walking in the cool night air and feel the wind as it flows across my face. It’s a good night for an interlude with a bit of active meditation. Some time to digest the observations of the day.

Our Tax Dollars at Work: New eJournal !

The Bush Administration recently initiated a new project through the National Biological Information Infrastructure agency, a division of the US Geological Survey. The new endeavor is an Ejournal for Sustainability: Science, Practice & Policy. US tax dollars in partnership with private industry for the greater good of American citizens.

Volume 1 Issue 1 Spring 2005: “Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy is published as part of an ambitious government/private industry partnership between CSA and the NBII. The purpose of this project is to develop a Sustainability Science database that examines the countless interactions of all living entities, especially humans, with the Earth and its environment.”

Since this is a project of the Bush Administration someone in the chain of command authorized the project budget and someone reviewed and approved the articles for the initial publication. In general the writings are lengthy works of scholarship, however, a mouthful is adequate to savor the flavor of the piece.

Sustainable Consumption Approaches in France

“Finally, from a more operational perspective, the French case highlights the need for better synergy between the institutional world of green policymaking and the more holistic approach defended by radical groups. … Here, as elsewhere in the environmental debate, progressive institutional forces (ecological modernizers) would gain from supplementing their typically “cold” technical style (eg., eco-labeling standards) with a more direct confrontation of the core ecological contradictions of the capitalist system.”

Local Ecological Knowledge of Finland

“This paper is a study of the role of local ecological knowledge. To obtain data, planning officials, biologists, and representatives of resident and nature associations were interviewed in the Helsinki metropolitan area.”

Dutch Policies Not Working: More Overt Policies Needed

“Existing policy styles and instruments have not reduced significantly the environmental impacts of consumption. An explanation for this inadequacy resides in the technocratic origins of environmental policymaking and the pronounced tendency to rely on the presumed rationality of producers situated on the supply side of production-consumption chains. A central issue, therefore, becomes the organization of an overt politics of sustainable consumption.”

International Institutions and Reducing Consumerist Lifestyles

“International institutions over the past decade have begun to emphasize the need to reduce the environmental impacts of heavily consumerist lifestyles in affluent nations as a precondition for sustainable development.”

The Feature Essay: What's Needed Beyond Science

“We have two big problems: blindness and addiction! Can we accept or acquiesce in denial of our “In Growth We Trust” addiction, an addiction that is delusional in its unwillingness to admit to limits in a finite world? Blindness and denial make impotent the body of scientific knowledge and block the use of helpful technologies.”

“When asking these questions, I realize that the sciences and technologies in themselves are not enough, … willingness to accept policies that really address our needs is indispensable. For both the religious and those who feel no special connection to any religion, there is environmental ethics, and for me, in particular, the philosophy called Deep Ecology. … We can only accomplish our goal, to change the behavior that undermines a sustainable future, if we change what we collectively think and want. That is, we will have to change the dominant worldview. … Do we, Homo sapiens, have the wisdom to do that?”

Do we, American Homo sapiens deserve our money back?

Madison's Minimum Wage: Law and Logic

The City of Madison created a municipal ordinance that took effect January 1, 2005, raising the minimum wage for work done within the city limits to $5.70 an hour. The State of Wisconsin has established a minimum wage of $5.15 an hour which applies everywhere in the State, with the exception of Madison. A coalition of business and trade organizations filed suit in December, 2004 to block the ordinance, claiming a municipal government does not have the legal authority to supersede state authority by mandating an independent minimum wage requirement.

Last Thursday Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi ruled in favor of the City and dismissed the suit. The decision can be summarized as follows. While municipalities have no inherent powers, Wisconsin law allows cities wide latitude in governing their local affairs unless expressly prohibited by State law. Wisconsin Courts have established, by case precedent, a four part test to determine if State legislation has withdrawn local authority over specific matters. If the court finds an affirmative answer to any of the four questions, it must void the local ordinance.

(1) whether the legislature has expressly withdrawn the power of the municipalities to act;
(2) whether the ordinance logically conflicts with the state legislation;
(3) whether the ordinance defeats the purpose of the state legislation; or
(4) whether the ordinance goes against the spirit of the state legislation.

Judge Sumi found no evidence that the Madison Minimum Wage Ordinance violated questions 1, 3 or 4 of the test. The key to her decision in favor of the City rests entirely upon how she interpreted question 2, the potential for a logical conflict with state law. The Judge cites case precedent that defines logical conflict as “diametrically opposed”. She argues that because state law on minimum wage uses the phrase “not less than”, the state law establishes a floor for wages and not a ceiling. Since the Madison ordinance does not lower the floor, it is not diametrically opposed to the State legislation, therefore, it is not in logical conflict with the State.

The judge sympathises with the concern expressed by the business community that creating a patchwork of varied wage ordinances across Wisconsin is not desirable, and this decision will undoubtedly be appealed by the business community. The effort to prevent a “balkanization” of wage policy across the state appears to depend on how the courts ultimately define “logical”, and asking the courts to be logical is always problematic.

Once a measurable standard is established at the state level, how far can a local government deviate from that standard before the deviation becomes illogical? In other words, would a mandatory minimum wage of $1,000,000 per hour be logically acceptable since it is above the statutory floor level? If no prior case has established a judicial standard to determine reasonable variation from the norm, then perhaps this case will establish that precedent.

Fuel Cell News: Bacterial Zapping

I know that Penn State is a member of the Big 10 but in my memory there is always an asterisk by its name. I suppose it has to do with being the eleventh of ten. Still I understand the difference between athletics and academics and kudos to the learning side for their work on An Electrically Assisted Microbial Fuel Cell in conjunction with the private business firm Ion Power, Inc.

The importance of this work derives from the role that Fuel Cells are expected to play in saving the planet from the "Oil Economy". It is a tenet of faith in the environmental movement that the use of any carbon based energy is bad for the survival of life on Earth. Burning wood is not good, nor is natural gas and oil is by far the worse carbon based energy source of all. The Green Movement is realistic enough to understand they need to propose some sort of energy to maintain society and a large part of their hope is in the ability of hydrogen to become a clean fuel.

The work at Penn State is an advance because their process increases the hydrogen output from organic material, or the preferred term biomass. The historical problem is that bacteria can only ferment carbohydrates, and then only to the point where waste products accumulate enough to stop the process. The breakthrough is the discovery that if you zap the microbes with a current of electricity, they “leap the fermentation barrier” and proceed to digest the former waste products, thus increasing the hydrogen production.

“Using a new electrically-assisted microbial fuel cell (MFC) … enables bacteria to coax four times as much hydrogen directly out of biomass than can be generated typically by fermentation alone.” … “giving the bacteria a small assist with a tiny amount of electricity -- about 0.25 volts or a small fraction of the voltage needed to run a typical 6 volt cell phone -- they can leap over the fermentation barrier and convert a "dead end" fermentation product, acetic acid, into carbon dioxide and hydrogen.”

Wait, stop, halt! To get more hydrogen to use as fuel for the environmentally clean energy hydrogen machine, one of the by products of the increased production becomes carbon dioxide? Maybe this process isn’t the Holy Grail for the leftists. Besides, if you look at their private sector partner, Ion Power, Inc., it turns out they exist as a tool of an oppressive, polluting global corporation.

“Ion Power Inc was founded in 1999 by Stephen Grot Ph.D to promote the use of NAFION®. As experts in NAFION ®, Ion Power will develop, manufacture, and distribute value-added products containing DuPont™ NAFION ® PFSA materials.”

Connections

Two days after Christmas 2004, NASA Observes a Giant Cosmic Explosion that was bigger and brighter than anything ever recorded. For a few milliseconds a burst of gamma radiation swept over earth, from a single eruption that released more energy than our Sun emitted over the last 150,000 years. The source was identified as Magnetar 1806-20 on the other side of the galaxy in an area where stars are born and die.

"The center of the Galaxy is 25,000 light years away, but some researchers have argued that SGR 1806-20 lies well beyond that. Its true distance is uncertain. The region of the sky surrounding SGR 1806-20 is very crowded with galactic star-forming and star-dying activity, so it is not yet clear whether there exists a young supernova remnant associated with SGR 1806-20."

The media paid almost no attention because the day before, December 26, 2004, an earthquake of historical intensity erupted off the coast of Malaysia and the resulting tsunami killed thousands upon thousands of people. Asking why something happened is a difficult question because cause and effect can not be known with complete certainty. At best we are left with our trust in the consistency of frequently repeated events, like sunrise follows sunset, and apples always fall down. The harder challenge is trying to understand why something rare and unusual happens. What causes a once in a lifetime event?

Dr. Paul LaViolette believes he understands why the massive Indonesian earthquake happened, and why 44.6 hours later, NASA witnessed a cosmic explosion of unprecedented force. His answer is that a neutron star about fifteen miles wide and forty five thousand light years away rippled the structure of space enough to shake and break mother earth. If its science fiction it is good story, but keep in mind that Galileo had some pretty weird ideas for his time.

Wisconsin is in Grave Danger

The Union of Concerned Scientists is an independent nonprofit alliance of scientists concerned about our well being. Founded in 1969 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, they are currently headquartered in Cambridge on Harvard Square. Their Board of Directors is filled with academics from prestigious institutions and they accept funding if you want to give them money. To demonstrate their concern, they put together an overview of Climate Change Dangers for Wisconsin. Please consider the top 10 threats to our State.

10. Climate change is bad for cows.

"High temperatures suppress appetite and decrease weight gain in livestock while warmer winters and less snow cover are predicted to reduce the quantity and quality of spring forage, and thus, milk quality.”

9. Lower morbidity and mortality rates at late season Packer home games.

“Cold-related health risks are likely to decline over time, as the frequency of extreme cold weather periods during winter decreases.”

8. The same amount of rain may produce a drier climate because the atmosphere won’t be able to rain out the increased amout of water that evaporates. … Well, maybe I’m too ignorant to understand the complex dynamics of this danger.

“Although average annual precipitation may not change much, an overall drier climate is expected because rainfall cannot compensate for the increase in evaporation resulting from greater temperatures.”

7. Wisconsin could grow more corn and beans.

“The growing season could be 4-7 weeks longer.”

6. More native birds!!!

“Greater resident bird populations, however, could increase competition for food and resources available for migratory songbirds and making it difficult for them to survive.”

5. Stupid small farmers won’t be able to adapt as well as big corporations.

“Climate variability will likely pose greater risk for smaller farms and thus may reinforce the trend toward increasing farm size and industrialization of agriculture in the region.”

4. Climate change is bad for Moose (and squirrel?)

“Moose, currently near their southern geographic limit, could be negatively affected by warming and increasing numbers of deer-carried parasites.”

3. Boats on the water will be closer to sea level.

“As lake levels drop, costs to shipping on the Great Lakes are likely to increase, along with costs of dredging harbors and channels and of adjusting docks, water intake pipes, and other infrastructure.”

2. Kites on Ice could become Kites on Slush.

“Thousands of visitors flock to Madison's Kites on Ice Festival traditionally held on Lake Monona. However, trends show a declining duration of ice cover on the lake from 114 days in the 1870's to 82 days in the 1990's. In February of 2002, the festival was moved several miles from its usual location to another part of the lake with safer ice.”

1. Wisconsin is becoming a bumpy Illinois.

“In general Wisconsin's climate will grow considerably warmer and probably drier during this century, especially in the summer. As a result of these changes, by 2030 summers in Wisconsin may feel more like current-day Illinois.”

State Patrol Day on the Beltline

Lola walks in from the garage and I immediately ask to see her speeding tickets. She says she missed out because the State Police were busy serving other customers. Madison has one high speed arterial that loops the south and west sides of town before connecting to the Interstate on the east. Dane County is one of the fastest growing areas of Wisconsin and daily rush hour traffic is increasingly crowded onto the beltline.

Mayor Cieslewicz prefers the word “density” to “crowding” and in most urban situations he considers density to be a good thing. When you are part of the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party, however, traffic is a bad thing for a city. In the utopian world of the New Urbanists, people will abandon their cars and crowd into public transportation. In the real world of Madison, Wisconsin people in their cars crowd onto the beltline and the congestion is becoming dangerous.

The beltline runs through multiple municipal jurisdictions creating a situation where no local government can justify using their limited resources on policing a regional traffic flow, and so they don’t. The result of having no probable consequences of violating the driving laws is that an increasing number of drivers are pushing the envelop of safety in increasingly tight traffic. The Wisconsin State Police finally decided to assume the responsibility for traffic law enforcement and announced that today they would dedicate seventeen units, including unmarked cars, in a crackdown on dangerous beltline driving.

The pros and cons of the crackdown were debated all day long. One group argues the problem is due to inadequate road design for the traffic volume and calls for millions of dollars of infrastructure development. Another group argues for better public instruction and calls for millions of dollars for driver education. I don’t hear anyone advance the idea that we can control the situation with no additional taxpayer expense by using the existing resources better. If the goal is to control rush our speeds, then simply have public employees drive their government owned vehicles as pace cars, with a few State Police squads positioned to respond when needed. Dane County is run by Democrats and I know that Democrats don’t watch NASCAR.

Risk

All of the ongoing discussions in American political discourse incorporate the concept of risk which is widely used and difficult to precisely define. The stock market has risks, war has risks, smoking has risks, walking to work has risks. The concept arises from our understanding that all actions have consequences and it is complicated by the reality that the consequence of any individual action is entirely dependent upon variables in the surrounding environment. In other words, it is impossible to know exactly what any individual action will produce, but over time, patterns of consequences begin to emerge.

I came upon this Book Review of “What Risk?” and think the general principles are worth keeping in mind, especially in the discussions where questionable science is being aggressively promoted in support of political agenda’s. Risk needs to be understood as products of actual measurements and not emotional fears. This is especially important in the debates over carbon dioxide regulation and smoking prohibition.

"Some general principles emerge. (i) Since all organisms have repair mechanisms against environmental damage, there are thresholds for all damaging agents. Therefore, extrapolation from high dose rates to very low levels does not make sense. (ii) Doses and dose rates should not be confused. (iii) There are very large species differences in response to damaging agents. (iv) Unrecognized variables lurk everywhere. (v) The costs of enforcing demonstrably false standards are huge."

"Nilsson's article on environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) concludes that the dangers are about one order of magnitude less than those currently used for regulatory purposes. The errors arise from misclassification of smoking status, inappropriate controls, confounding factors having to do with lifestyle, and, possibly, heredity. Looked at another way, a child's intake of benzo[a]pyrene during 10 hours from ETS is estimated to be about 250 times less than the amount ingested from eating one grilled sausage."

Learn To Think Like A COW

It’s a warm Monday night in Madison and around town police are responding to complaints about loud groups of juveniles and belligerent customers who refuse to leave. These are routine tasks and normal social issues in small cities and I imagine similar scenarios are occurring in towns like Wausau or Oshkosh or Eau Claire. Madison is a bit different from normal towns which may explain why Madison is being run by COWS, the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party. The COW view of the relationship between government and society is evident in the writings of Matt Vidal and the following reading list can help people who want to think like a Madison Liberal.

More Money In Your Pocket revives the old Marxist theory that concentrating power in multiple competing private organizations is more dangerous for the common man than concentrating power into a single large government, because private is bad and public is good.

“Ever since formally democratic governments have replaced monarchies, one of the main rhetorical tricks … has been to continually invoke the image of the free individual versus the authoritarian state. Freedom and state power, they say, grow in inverse proportion. … Meanwhile, as critics from Marx to Chomsky have pointed out, private power grows and concentrates in fewer hands. Global mega-corporations, which own or set the terms of business for most smaller corporations and businesses, increasingly control more aspects of life.”

George W. Bonaparte: The Renunciation of Leadership outlines a sincere belief that the Republican Party is intent on transitioning the American Democracy into a Military Dictatorship.

“In 1848, Napoleon Bonaparte's nephew, Louis Philippe, was elected to the French presidency. A few years later he staged a coup against his own government, setting up a military dictatorship. In two analytical pamphlets written soon after these world-historical events, Karl Marx wrote of the conditions that "made it possible for a grotesque mediocrity to play a hero's part." Although under much different conditions, we are again witnessing a person of grotesque mediocrity mascarading as a hero. With Bush's relentless drive for war, we have the dubious distinction of living in a similar world-historical conjuncture.”

Bush's Legacy: Dead Bodies, Dead Wrong, Dead Logic argues that it is the Republicans who have removed logic and reason from America’s political debate.

“In the wake of Bush's political tsunami, logic must be counted among the dead. Rational argument, along with accountability, has become as quaint as the Geneva Conventions. … Indeed, it may be Bush's crowning achievement that reason has ceased to be an effective component of political discourse in the US. Rather, appeals to emotion (fortified by lies, half-truths and image management) have become the primary form of persuasion in American politics.”

Madison's own Ward Churchill

What type of scholarship does the University of Wisconsin-Madison consider worthy of receiving a Ph.D. in African Languages and Literature (Arabic)? I have not read Kevin Barrett's dissertation or listened to his oral defense of this work, but by awarding the doctorate, I assume the UW-Madison views his reasoned learning as equal to the rest of the faculty of the department. His peers may not be surprised that he now devotes his efforts in behalf of the organization he founded, The Muslim-Jewish-Christian Alliance for 9/11 Truth. Madison's very own Ward Churchill style academic devoted to proving The Myth of 9/11. It was all a Republican plot!

"The mainstream 9-11 thesis blames the success of the attacks on the combination of two factors: "angry Muslim fanatics" and an "overwhelmed or incompetent domestic security apparatus." The 9-11 Truth movement categorically rejects this thesis based on overwhelming evidence that 9-11 was "an inside job" as much as it was a foreign attack. The Kean-Zelikow Commission,s official U.S. government account of what occurred within our National Security Apparatus that led to the tragedy is egregiously untrue."

"In this Nazi-like climate, with thousands of our Muslim brothers and sisters being tortured, martyred and disapeared to secret concentration camps simply because they are Muslims, a discrete silence strikes many as the best policy. (Personally, I disagree. Silence and denial did not work for the Jews in 1930s Germany, and it won't work for American Muslims now)."

I love the argument that there is no more freedom of speech in America so now is the time to speak out. Perhaps Dr. Barrett should check his facts with David Irving who has the evidence that the Holocaust never happened. Still a fact out of place now and then is no big deal when revealing the truth. Money to support this endeavor will be accepted and a check or money order can be mailed to: MUJCA-NET, POB 221, Lone Rock, WI 53556.