Congrats to Will Allen, one of Time’s 100 most influential people of 2010

Heck yeah. Growing Power’s head honcho gets some love.

But while Time casts urban ag as a lower class phenomenon found in the inner city, the six raised beds in my back yard, the one in my next door neighbor’s yard are in a very middle class part of Bay View, and the one hundred and ten raised beds that we will be building tomorrow at Hide House are all located in the older yet not decaying working class part of Bay View.

Just sayin’.

Meanwhile, Journal Sentinel has a good story on how Will would like to “uplift” urban ag — through vertical farming. Who’s to say it can’t be done? Well, lots of people. But who at one point I’m sure people thought we couldn’t go to the moon or cure polio. To me, people that think we need to abandon the city and never look back are in the same ilk.

The city is the future. Urban ag is a great way to feed it.

Tomorrow, we turn an empty lot into a huge community garden!

Building 110 garden beds, moving a few gazillion cubic yards of soil, then partying till we fall over? Yes we can! For tomorrow morning, the rain will stop, the clouds will part, and the people of the south side will come together for building the greatest community garden Bay View has ever seen!

Eleven pallets of wood,

Two huge piles of dirt and leaf mulch,

All te become 110 raised beds.

Hell yes we can!

Drill, baby, drill!

Yes! Drill, baby, drill! Damn the consequences! Nothing bad can happen.

Right?

Tony Z. will not be LG

From the press release:

Zielinski Campaign: Zielinski withdrawing from the race for lieutenant governor 4/27/2010 Contact: Tony Zielinski 414.405.1483 Our top priority is to get the best candidate elected Governor for the people of Wisconsin. Tom Barrett is that candidate! Advisors very close to Tom Barrett have indicated to me that Tom believes that two people from Milwaukee cannot win. While I personally think two people from Milwaukee can win, that is not the only factor I must consider. While there was no other candidate that was both from outside of Milwaukee and that held elective office in the race before, I could not in good conscience withdraw. This is no longer the case. Tom Nelson has both elective office experience and is not from Milwaukee. For those reasons I am withdrawing from the race for Lieutenant Governor. In the past several months, I have had to good fortune to personally see what a beautiful state we have while visiting approximately ¾ of the state’s 72 counties. In fact, the beauty of our state is only exceeded by the wonderful people who live here. I will do whatever I can to help Tom Barrett become the next Governor for the people of the State of Wisconsin and I encourage you to support Tom as well. ###

Well, he’ll still by my alder. So it be.

Dick Leinenkugel finally announces his candidacy with a puff of hot air

It’s official. And it’s obvious that Dick Leinenkugel spent a bunch of money turning his once top-secret web site into a shiny new web site. Funny thing is, the first person that you see when you go to the site is not Dick Leinenkugel, but our good Senator Russ Feingold. If I can offer Lienie & Co. a free tip, don’t put your opponent’s face on your web page as the first thing people see.

And don’t ask if he’s “listening yet.” For the entire duration of his U.S. Senate career, Senator Feingold has been listening to Wisconsinites. Each year, he holds a listening session in every single county in Wisconsin. Every county, from Adams to Iowa and Pepin to Waushara, Winnebago and Wood, gets a listening session, where the Senator interacts with the citizens. For all the bravery and loyalty that Leinenkugel paints himself with, he’d serve us and himself better by not making the false claim that Senator Feingold isn’t listening. I’ve been in Wisconsin most of my 34 years, and I’ve not once heard from Dick Leinenkugel. Don’t blow hot air like that.

Of course, you do want to become a politician. What is a politician without hot air?

That’s Senator Feingold.

Also: I like the takes on this from BloggingBlue and Pretty Important Politics.

Let’s just try to stay away from lame beer puns, ‘k guys?

Feingold, Wall have new ads

Let’s accentuate the positive first with Senator Russ Feingold’s new ad, “Forward.” The ad focuses on the meaning of our state’s slogan, which is that very word, and urges continued movement in that direction. While many would like to see the state’s politics slide backwards, Feingold is pushing for movement in the proper direction. Feingold makes no attempt to place himself among the forward-thinking individuals that are shown in the ad, such as former Gov. Gaylord Nelson or the world-famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright, both Wisconsin natives. Rather, it appeals to the desire to improve and elevate the whole of society. It’s a thoughtful ad, and doesn’t specifically mention any issues, nor people. It doesn’t need to, as it represents some of the best thinking and values to come from Wisconsin in the past hundred years.

Terrence “Terry” Wall, the multi-millionaire who for over a decade hasn’t found it necessary to personally pay a dime to support the state, has some ads too. The ad “Liberal Leinie” was posted two weeks ago, and predictably bashes Wall’s probable Republican opponent Dick Leinenkugel for being part of the Doyle administration and helping write the state budget, and for Wisconsin losing jobs. While the Cheddarsphere had already questioned Leinenkugel running as a Republican immediately after serving in the Democratic administration, Wall’s ad paints him as a dreaded tax-raising liberal. The economy going out of control was hardly Leinenkugel’s fault, but the people in charge always take heat when things go poorly. Leinenkugel set himself up for taking those hits, light as they may be.

This video says much more about Wall than his nasal pronouncements about jobs in his introductory video. Compare the tone of the Feingold and Wall ads. Feingold refers to our state’s legacy of producing great thinkers and creators. It emphasizes the importance of keeping up our great intellectual and creative traditions. Voting to return our scholarly senator to the Senate would do that.

Wall’s ad is smug, dismissive, and insulting. The tone of the woman’s voice is designed to raise the hairs on the neck of people who have been trained by talk radio and Fox News to automatically hate anyone and everyone who is associated with the Democratic Party. It doesn’t employ dog whistles so much as bullhorns to shout the words “HIGHER TAXES” and “LIBERAL” — a gaudy attempt to embroil the conservative audience. If the ad is successful in raising the blood pressure of the viewer, they probably will give the throwaway line at the end of the ad a gut laugh. Which is more than it deserves.

Thoughtful, effective. Feingold.

Snobby, pandering. Wall.

Choose wisely.

Leinenkugel for Senate web site still under wraps

While it’s still (technically) rumored that former Doyle Commerce Secretary Dick Leinenkugel will be mounting a bid for U.S. Senator Russ Feingold’s seat as a Republican, we’ve known for a while that something’s afoot. The latest sign is visible when one visits the leinenkugelforsenate.com web site:

leinenkugelforsenate.com -- don't tell anybody!

That’s very clever, naming the server “Shhhh.” It prevents me from getting the idea that a man of the last name Leinenkugel will be running for the U.S. Senate. Nothing to see here, move along!

Even if it were to happen, Feingold is projected as the eventual winner by Republican-friendly pollster Rasmussen.

I still think he’s got more to worry about from Dave Westlake’s truly grassroots bid. It reminds me a bit of how Feingold beat two millionaires in 1992. Maybe that’s it: millionaires can’t beat him. (Are you listening, Terry and Dave?) What does that say about non-millionaires?

(He has since announced his candidacy to a stale response.)

Even Rasmussen says Feingold will win in November

You know it’s a [something] day when Republican-leaning pollster Rasmussen Reports predicts the incumbent U.S. Senator Russ Feingold would beat all three of his known and forthcoming Republican challengers.

According to the latest numbers from Rasmussen, Feingold would beat tax-evading millionaire Terrence “Terry” Wall, 49%-43%. Feingold’s numbers stay even for the a match-up against Dave Westlake, who would net 38%, and amazingly, Dick Leinenkugel would only get 37%.

Neither Wall or Leinenkugel have come to Drinking Liberally, so I’m not sure how Wall is ahead of Westlake. Must be all that money he gave his own campaign. (Did it come via Delaware?)

Leinenkugel to announce next week in Feingold’s home town of Janesville?

My man Zach Dubya cites Tony Galli of WKOW27 in Madison as reporting “a source close to former state commerce secretary Dick Leinenkugel has indicated Leinenkugel plans to announce his run for the U.S. Senate next week. According to the report, the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told WKOW27 News Leinenkugel’s campaign kick off will feature stops in several Wisconsin cities, including Janesville, Feingold’s home town.”

Leinenkugel would be the third official Republican candidate to enter the primary in hopes of challenging U.S. Senator Russ Feingold.

If this does happen, we’ll have  to see how the former Doyle commerce secretary’s announcement goes over in Janesville. That southern Wisconsin city was, until recently, home to a large GM factory, but now has an unemployment rate of 12.8 percent. According to an AP story in the Janesville Gazette, that rate is “down from a year ago when it was 13.7 percent.” The article goes on to report that “Beloit had the highest unemployment of any city at 18.2 percent.” (!) That’s almost a full 10 percent above the state rate — and they didn’t lose a huge factory.

I don’t know what role the state Secretary of Commerce had in addressing unemployment. Some, you’d think, right? It’ll be interesting to see how Leinenkugel plays there with all the unemployment in the region.

Z. Dubya also wonders if he’ll “close his events to the public, as fellow Republican candidate Terrence Wall did.”

Fantastic time with Republican and Democratic candidates at Drinking Liberally tonight

Remember the days when Drinking Liberally was more of a support group for battered lefties than anything else? Aye, during the Bush years, it sometimes felt necessary. Well, this time around, it’s a whole different ball game. Tonight at Milwaukee Drinking Liberally, we were graced with not one, but two candidates, and one of them was — cue dramatic music — a Republican! [NOOo!!! SCREAM!]

They were Todd Kolosso, Democratic candidate for Congress, challenging Republican Jim Sensenbrenner, and Dave Westlake, one of the Republican challengers to U.S. Senator Russ Feingold.

And quite really, Dave Westlake and his campaign buddy Drew were great guests. I pitted Westlake and Kolosso in a no-holds-barred discussion-debate with each other and the attendees. Both seemed to enjoy being on the spot, airing their positions and differences, and taking questions from the crowd.

Kolosso, on the middle-left, and Westlake, on the right. Naturally!

Much of the discussion was about actual issues, some about philosophical differences. That the men were running for totally different offices but were from opposing parties put them both in and out of competition at once. It less about proving who’s better or more suited for office than about making their cases and causes known.

Honestly, I think that both would do well in office. Now, much as I like him, I’m not going to vote for Westlake. (And I can’t vote for Kolosso, as I’m in the wrong district.) I’m pretty sure he knows that. But that wasn’t the point of his coming to Drinking Liberally. Instead, it helped us bring out discussion of politics like we have not had at D.L. in quite some time. After the ’08 election, i didn’t know what the purpose of us meeting was, other than that we’d been doing it for several years. Now, I feel like it has a purpose: enabling discussion, real discussion and comparison of views and ideologies. While Dave and Todd clearly had differences on some points, not everything was clear cut disagreement. At the same time, this was not about trying to tear someone’s head off; no one had their poisonous fangs on display. I think tonight’s event helped shape the course of our chapter of Drinking Liberally for the positive.

Milwaukee Drinking Liberally meets from 7-9PM on the third Wednesday of each month (except July) at Sugar Maple, 441 E. Lincoln Ave., Milwaukee. I hope we can have more evenings with many more candidates in the future. Todd and Dave, you certainly are welcome back any time!