Mislabeling a Brezhnevian G.O.P. coup as “stalinism”

“Bad search engines can yield amusing results” was the original name of this post. Pardon me if that sounds like a weak headline from most any daily newspaper you’re able to find in Milwaukee these days. (How many are there now again?) But it’s true. I was trying to find the editorial in which the Wisconsin State Journal referred to Madison’s Progressive Dane party as “stalinist.” Not even Google would turn that one up, so I tried WSJ’s search engine.

While the editorial which condemned Progressive Dane was absent, the very last item in the results was quite amusing to me:

PEOPLE OF NOTE

ARTICLE: Barry Alvarez

Linking “stalinism” and the football team’s coach is the most daring thing I’ve seen the State Journal do in decades. If not the most honest.

But what am I saying? As the Badger Herald once printed, such labels should not be lightly tossed around. Especially when people don’t know anything about what the labels actually mean.

As someone who’s extensively studied Russian and Soviet history, I may be a little better able to do that with the term “stalinism.” I’m not sure I’d use it to describe Alvarez. He’s no Joe Stalin. For instance, Josef Stalin helped beat Hitler in World War II. And that’s fine and good. But did he ever lead a football team to the Rose Bowl? I don’t think so!

So when New York Times columnist Frank Rich writes that “G.O.P. Stalinists” have “invade[d] Upstate New York,” I have to pause to wonder. Is this another case of the misapplication of an incendiary phrase, similar to calling President Obama a marxist? When the Progressive Dane party and future-former Republican evangelists such as Sarah Palin and the teabaggers are labelled “stalinists,” I have to wonder if that’s appropriate. Or even correct. These terms tend to be applied when somone is trying to raise the temper of their perceived audience, even when they don’t really know what they’re saying. Sadly, it works.

I have a hunch that Frank Rich knows something about the history of the Soviet Union and the horrors that befell it under Uncle Joe. He probably knows a lot more about it than Sarah Palin does, even if her house happened to be on Attu Island. Calling the move “stalinist” may be over-reaching, but I take that term literally. To me, it means having secret police rounding up people in the middle of the night, and taking them to deep underground prisons, from which they never return.

This is not to say that Mr. Rich does not have a point. As I’ve wondered aloud, what will be the effect of the moderate Republicans such as Dede Scozzafava getting pushed out by the reactionary wing of the party and its once-and-future members?

While this has been a purge, to the best of my knowledge, it has been a completely bloodless purge. Thus it is much more in line with the outer of former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, who was put on trial by the Soviet Politburo on drummed-up charges two years after the Cuban-Turkish Missile Crisis and quietly made to step down.

So, even if Palin couldn’t actually see Russia from her house (wink!), the rush to throw love and money at Hoffman seems slightly more in the style of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (the Politburo) in 1964 than Stalin’s Great Purge (nee “Great Terror”) of 1932-1939.

But who on earth knows what you’re talking about if you say, “Geez, the G.O.P. sure pulled a real Brezhnevian coup there in New York twenty-third, huh?”

Conservative/G.O.P. split in the process of occurring? (Part 2)

Deke Rivers is amongst the many bloggers to discuss turmoil that has occurred in the New York state 23rd congressional district, with Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava suspending her campaign as Conservative Party candidate Douglas Hoffman started to get the support of many (former?) Republican operatives who seem wedded to the identity of being “Reagan Republicans.” Even Republican chairman M. Steele, who said just last week that he stood with Scozzafava. But since then, he has since recanted that statement. The Republican national committee now supports Hoffman.

Is this a suicide pill strategy by the G.O.P.? By endorsing Hoffman and sending hundreds of thousands of dollars his way, the inexperienced candidate may soon find himself drawn into their web. Becoming an actual Republican would weaken the Conservative Party, who would lose their star candidate. And the G.O.P. would continue its seemingly inalterable lurch to the hard right all the while.

Perhaps it’s not that simple. What Are You Looking At? ponders if the G.O.P. is planning a second edition of its 1994 “Contract [on] America,” and the ultimate numbers guys at fivethirtyeight.com point out that the voters in New York’s fighting 23rd who like Scozzafava also like Obama, but dislike Hoffman.

We’ll find out soon how this race turns out, but the evolution goes on.

(Wait, did I just say Republicans can evolve? Really?)

Walker to laid-off county workers: Ha ha, just kidding!

Yeah, about those layoffs I just gave you… just kidding! Hope that wasn’t too hard on you or your family.

Stay classy, Scott!

This is likely how we would run Wisconsin state government as well. Tthe governor effects the whole state, not just its most populated corner, so the effect of doing this sort of stunt would be much more widely felt.

God’s Outlaw live on WMSE and at Club Garibaldi

God’s Outlaw* will perform some rare Johnny Cash B-sides in a featured country music set LIVE ON THE AIR October 30th, this Friday morning on WMSE 91.7 FM during Jonny Z’s Chicken Shack between 10 and 11am. You can tune in your radio dial during that time, or listen online at  www.wmse.org.

The band’s next live show will be at Club Garibaldi, 2501 S. Superior St. in Milwaukee. The play on Friday November 6 at 10PM.

* God’s Outlaw is a classic Outlaw Country band playing tunes in the spirit of Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, David Allen Coe, Merle Haggard, etc.

City of Milwaukee plans to acquire 84 acres of former Tower Automotive facility

This is a very good sign.

The Redevelopment Authority of the City of Milwaukee (RACM) plans to acquire 84 acres of the former Tower Automotive facility near North 31st Street and West Capitol Drive in December 2009. In the coming months RACM will be preparing a number of Request for Proposals (RFPs) and bids for various services and commodities. These services and commodities will assist RACM with the property transition, site management, and various other redevelopment activities.

In general, the services will include: site security, plumbing, electrical, landscaping services, asbestos assessment, asbestos abatement, demolition, site maintenance, rehab/construction, environmental services, and others.

Curious parties can look at these sites for more info:

http://www.mkedcd.org/RFP

http://www.mkedcd.org/30thstreet

Tuesday Tunes: “Starting Again”

My friend Mark Moschell arranged and played the guitar part on this recording of the song called “Starting Again,” which was wonderfully performed by Bethan Mathis. You can hear the song on the web at alonetone.com.

Mark’s wonderful wife Christine made the möbius strip wedding rings for Stacie and I! It’s a delight to have them as friends.

Jason and Stacie, sitting in a tree…

It’s good to be married.

Lawton will not run for governor

Woah.

Hi Tom, how’s it going?

“Liberal media,” or ill-prepared candidate?

What do you think would happen if a candidate for a political office were unable to answer questions about the local community’s issues?

Take a moment to think about that.

You likely thought that the candidate in question would be judged as not being worthy of electing to office. That is a sensible response. Who would want to have someone who doesn’t know about local issues to represent them in office?

Let’s say it happened here in Milwaukee County. If someone is running for the county board, they should probably know about the local highway rebuilding projects, the closure of 27th Street, economic issues, and so on. If the candidate serious stumbled in response to those questions, it would make sense

Something like this happened in upstate New York. That’s where Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman has made a big splash in recent days. He’s been endorsed by Glenn Beck, Rush Lmbaugh, and former Alska Governor Sarah Palin. to a newspaper editorial board meeting, Hoffman was unable to answer questions about important local issues in northern New York state.

Here are some of the “parochial” issues that Mr. Hoffman was silent about:

■ How do they feel about federal attempts to widen and deepen the St. Lawrence Seaway to accommodate larger oceangoing ships?

■ Do they support winter navigation in the Seaway?

■ How would they help protect the waterway from encroachment of invasive species?

■ How do they stand on border issues? Should security override citizens’ desire to travel freely between Northern New York and Canada and the need for smooth commercial travel? Should the federal government interrupt fishing trips, picnics and boating excursions in the name of protecting the border?

According to the Watertown Daily Times, whose editorial board posed those questions,

“A flustered and ill-at-ease Mr. Hoffman objected to the heated questioning, saying he should have been provided a list of questions he might be asked. He was, if he had taken the time to read the Thursday morning Times editorial raising the very same questions.”

Suddenly, Hoffman was out of the limelight of being the oddball candidate and thrust under the pressure of actual issues. If only he’d taken the time to read the paper, or even look on their web site. That’s where I found the questions. It wasn’t at all hard. This reminds me of a basic lesson I got in the Boy Scouts. It was our motto: “BE PREPARED.” Mr. Hoffman appears to have failed at that basic task.

While those questions were posed by the editorial board of the Watertown Daily Times, they’re not strictly local. They effect us here in Milwaukee and Wisconsin. We’re are on the southern end of the waterway that runs from Lake Michigan through the other Great Lakes and out to the St. Lawrence Seaway. The zebra mussels that are mucking up the lake water most likely came in via the aforementioned seaway. These things effects us, too, and we don’t live in New York state.

It should come as little surprise that Mr. Hoffman’s most avid defenders would soon swoop to his side. Former Congressman and tea party funder Dick Armey dismissed the paper for being “parochial,” and said that such issues “would not determine the outcome of the election.”

That is one of the most insulting things I’ve heard come from anyone’s mouth in quite some time.

His bravest defenders are those who commented on the Watertown Daily Times web site with accusations of the paper being a leftist rag not worthy of publication. Liberal media! Liberal media that was unfairly slamming Hoffman! Bad liberals, bad!

Really? Could it be that Marxist sleeper cells have penetrated the backwoods of upstate New York?

No. The editorial board of the Watertown Daily Times were doing their job.

Newspapers (remember them?) once helped people filter the mass of information that assaults them each day. They help voters to decide who’s worth that most precious American commodity, the vote. It is sad that for some people, the of discovering which candidates are best prepared for the job earns the tired denigration of “liberal media.” It’s very likely that the two other candidates in the race were asked the same questions.

The newspaper was doing the right thing. They were trying to find out about matters that effect their community. Their political affiliation or leanings had no bearing on what was asked.

Bravo to the staff of the Watertown Daily Times for doing their job.

Proof that Truly Liberal Media is good (for me)

On election night 2002, discussion about starting a new, independent newspaper started between myself and another media activist. The discussion was cut short that night when Senator Russ Feingold made a surprise appearance at the bar-restaurant we were at, providing the happiest sort of interruption. Our talks eventually resumed, and in January 2004, The Wisconsinite debuted. Billed by its publisher (yours truly) as being “brazenly leftist,” The Wisconsinite set out to cover news stories that were ignored by mainstream media outlets such as the Wisconsin State Journal and Madison’s weekly paper Isthmus. We felt that Isthmus had become too much a part of the yuppie culture that had come to dominate Madison’s culture, and something needed to come tweak it on the nose and remind it of what a newspaper could and should do.

We set out with lofty goals, and we actually made a pretty kick-ass paper. Many people were impressed wit our coverage of issues. Our first issue’s cover story was written by a Wisconsinite who travelled in Iraq on the eve of the Iraq War, and was followed up nine issues later with a cover story about a nun’s view of the hollow democracy the war had tried to create there. Other cover stories were on Tommy Thompson’s role in attempting to bring TABOR to Wisconsin (“Dr. No and the Spectre of A.L.E.C.”), or the corrosive influence of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the lobbying group that bought two of the last three  state supreme court elections.

Like many alt-weeklies, the first half was news, the second half arts and entertainment. Our two editors were brilliant at filling each half. The mysterious identity of Ahab, our scribe who penned “The Crawl Space” column about fine local bars, has never been determined. But some of our writers shone in their own ways. I regularly see Stacie Williams’ byline in Milwaukee publications. Kyle Myhre has found success in his hip hop act El Guante. And the two editors, Kristian and Bob, found homes with our once-hated opponent rag Isthmus. Their perspectives and time with The Wisconsinite have helped improve Isthmus, both online and in print.

Two other writers for my fine lefty rag bear mentioning. One was Jay Bullock, who was then best known for his hard-hitting policy on the use of conjunctives in his English classes. Jay also had a little blog that you may have seen before. As Kristian and I were starting a newspaper, and being twenty-first century boys, we knew we’d need a blogger. So Kristian contacted Jay about blogging for us about life and politics in Wisconsin.

As I recall it, Jay said that he was too busy to do it, but he recommended that we talk to this woman who ran a blog called “The Candidate’s Wife.” Her husband evidently was about to take on incumbent U.S. Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, and she felt compelled to blog about it. She said okay, and blogging soon began at The Vast Dairy State Conspiracy (now accessible only through archive.org). I occasionally looked at the blog, and while I really enjoyed the author’s writing, I eventually learned that she was married — and lived in Waukesha. Given that I was in Madison at the time, Waukesha was a mythical land where liberals were roasted on spits set above perfectly astroturfed lawns. That’s not actually so, but these two facts were enough for me to write her off as a future/possible romantic interest.

Fast forward to October 2004. Four months earlier, I had killed The Wisconsinite, largely as a result of changes in the media marketplace in Madison and Milwaukee People loved the paper, but advertising money had been sucked up by the new faux-alt weekly papers that the two big newspaper companies in Wisconsin had produced. While both of those intruders would also be gone within relatively short time, they succeeded in killing off El Wisco.

Capitalism at work.

I got a job to pay the outstanding printing bills, and found myself shoved from the enjoyable role of publishing and distributing a newspaper into the grinding drudgery of enabling the commission of overseas credit card fraud agents and bored teenagers who enjoyed sexually harassing their classmates. And, on a whim, I looked at The Vast Dairy State Conspiracy to see if this Stacie person was still writing it.

A note on the blog said that word had come down that the paper was shutting down, so she’d need to find a new home for the blog. I emailed her and said, “No, don’t go! I’ve got big plans for the next version of my publishing empire, Wisco 2.0!” She wrote back, saying she’d stick around. And things went from there. In fact, the discussion went something like this:

Stacie: I just separated from my husband.

Me: Oh, you’re separated too? I’m very sorry to hear that. [In my head: "Exxxxcellent..."]

• • •

Five years, twleve glorious issues, and one little blog post later, we have what may be the first veritable proof that one piece of Truly Liberal Leftist Media™ has made something very good. Stacie Rosenzweig, former author of The Vast Dairy State Conspiracy and a fine op-ed in issue #11 of The Wisconsinite has become my wife.

I love you, Stacie! And I’d do it all over again for you.

&!!