Scott Walker Failure Files makes its debut

It’s sad when the supposed leader of a government has done so much that a whole web site exists to document his unceasing demolition of the body he’s supposed to lead. But that is the case. The web site scottwalkerfailurefiles.com has launched, and its contents are quite damning. We’ve known for a long time that he’s done a bad job. It calumniated with the preventable tragedy at O’Donnell Park, in which a suburban teenager lost his life and his buddy’s mother lost her leg.

Just imagine what he’ll do to the state if he gets the chance.

Breaking news: Feingold will NOT sell his GBP stock

This is big, I’m telling you, BIG! Feingold is NOT selling his Packers stock. Heck, I didn’t even know he had any. I’m shocked, I tell you, shocked! …Or not.

The campaign of Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) has issued this press release:

Statement from U.S. Senator Russ Feingold

On GBP Stock

MILWAUKEE – The Feingold Campaign released the following statement from U.S. Senator Russ Feingold today:

“Unfortunately, I will be unable to attend today’s Green Bay Packers annual shareholder meeting. However, I want to make it clear that I will not be divesting my one share in the Packers. Not because it’s the only stock I own, or because market conditions predict a Super Bowl, but because I am a committed Packer fan whether they are up or down.”

- U.S. Senator Russ Feingold

According to Market Place Magazine, yesterday Feingold pressed the FCC to “make it easier for residents living in northern and western Wisconsin to receive Wisconsin-related television programming, including in-state news, weather, sports and entertainment” – including Green Bay Packer games.

Also yesterday, MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews highlighted Ron Johnson’s flip-flopping positions on his hundreds of thousands of dollars of BP stock with its host noting:  “The only thing this guy [Johnson] possesses more than BP, is B.S.”

The clip is available here: http://www.youtube.com/user/wisdems09#p/u/0/uPXrL6-ahu4

###

New term of the day: Pay to-Plale

State Sentator Jeff Plale’s finance report keeps keeps turning up golden nugget after golden nugget of contributions from well-oiled corporate lobbying machines. Xoff has dubbed it Pay to Plale. Zach Dubya pointed out numerous donations from cable TV and coal company executives. And he pointed out the surprising-yet-not-surprising contributions from two top dogs from right-wing funders WMC.

Lisa Kaiser of the Shepherd Express found this zinger: a donation from a lobbyist for Koch (say Coke) Industries, which is a major global warming denialist and funder of misinformation. As Xoff wrote:

What makes this especially interesting is that Plale was a key player in the state’s climate change task force, which proposed a comprehensive bill that Plale co-sponsored — and then killed in the final days of the session. No one’s suggesting he did it for a $250 contribution. But with the kind of company he keeps, what he did should be no big surprise.”

Hey, maybe if Plale loses, he can try to get a job with Ron Johnson. They may have more in common than they thought.

Luncheon, O luncheon, how I love thee

I don’t know why it is that I was struck with a sudden affinity for the word “luncheon.” It started when I saw Ron “ROJO” Johnson would be having a luncheon. It seemed quite the hoity-toity affair, perfect for someone of Mr. Johnson’s upper class gravitas.

Now it seems Mayor Barrett will be having a luncheon of his own with none other than President Obama. While I’d love to see the President in person, given that seats start at $250, I don’t think I’ll be attending.

And hey, Chicago Trib, how much did the previous resident of the White House charge for his? Those were not small-donor events either.

So what is a luncheon, anyway? Let’s ask my computer’s dictionary:

luncheon |ˈlən ch ən|
noun
a formal lunch, or a formal word for lunch.
ORIGIN late 16th cent. (in the sense [thick piece, hunk] ): possibly an extension of obsolete lunch [thick piece, hunk,] from Spanish lonja ‘slice.’

Hmm, pretty much what I thought. Well, there you have it. As my wife put it, “What’s the difference between a lunch and a luncheon?” She answered her own question: “About $235.”

Recording the moment, part 2

Back on the 24th, I recorded Tom Tancredo, now an indy candidate for governor of Colorado, saying that President Obama should be impeached. I don’t think any specific high crimes or misdemeanors were identified. Moreover, frigging Fox News said that’s ridiculous.

“We’ll see where it goes,” I wrote on the 24th.

Five days later, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), the chair of the new House Tea Party Caucus, in the word of TPM, “seems to be sitting on the fence over whether President Obama should be impeached. Instead, she’s saying that those questions are up to Congress to determine.”

So there you have it. Whatever “it” is or may be.

Family farm for sale after almost 400 years of operation

One of the oldest things in Milwaukee is the giant European copper beech tree in South Shore Park, which was planted in the 1850s. It’s pretty old for something in America that was planted or raised post-colonization.

Over on the East Coast, it’s not too hard to find things that are even older. The Tuttle farm in New Hampshire has been farmed since 1632, which probably makes it a candidate for “oldest thing continually in use.” That’s 378 years of farming on one spot, with eleven generations of the family working the land.

However, in 2010, as suburban sprawl encroached and the intimate demands of the marketplace made it harder and harder to operate a farm, the Tuttles have placed the farm up for sale. According to the Boston Globe, the 134-acre property is listed for $3.35 million. However, the paper also reports that despite being “surrounded by suburban homes and is bordered by a major street, [the farm] is protected by a conservation restriction that prohibits it from being developed after it is sold, and the Tuttles hold out hope that the new owners will maintain it as a working farm.”

While a part of me would like a farm, in the abstract, mind you, I don’t have that kind of cash on hand. But I hope that it can be made into another good farm rather than it becoming Yet Another Subdivision. God knows we’ve got quite enough of those.

Special guest Wed. July 28: Drinking + Living Liberally cofounder Justin Krebs!

As sent to the Milwaukee Drinking Liberally mailing list:

Dear Milwaukeean liberal drinkers,

Tomorrow is a very special event for our humble little chapter: Living Liberally co-founder Justin Krebs is coming to Milwaukee! Krebs is the author of “538 Ways to Live, Work & Play Like a Liberal.” It’s full of little ideas for embracing your progressive values everyday life, as well as the big ideas of what it means to be a “liberal” in America today.

Justin’s bio describes him as a “political & cultural entrepreneur based in New York City.  He is co-founder of Living Liberally and serves as one of the organizations National Directors.  He is one of the founders and Artistic Directors of The Tank, a non-profit venue for performing arts and public affairs in Manhattan.  Over the past decade, he has been an Activist Fellow for CREDO in San Francisco, managed issue advocacy campaigns in New York City, produced an award-winning documentary for PBS on youth civic engagement, and served in the office of US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.  He has published ‘Grounds For Play,’ a history of playgrounds in New York.  He is a [New Jersey] native, Harvard alum and New Yorker for the past decade.”

Well, let’s give this Yankee a proper Brew City welcome! Justin helped start DL, and got us to where we are today. Come say thanks by getting a copy of his book. Copies will be available for your purchase and perusal.

It will happen at our standard time and place — 7 PM at Sugar Maple. It’s like an extra round of Drinking Liberally, all for the low low price of one good book!

Date: Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Time: 7:00pm – 9:00pm
Location: Sugar Maple, 441 East Lincoln Ave., Milwaukee WI

Till morrow,
Jason & the Milwaukee DL crew

ROJO will (or not, or not-will-not?) sell his BP stock now the price is back up?

In the First Position, Mr. Johnson refuses to sell his BP stock:

“Aides to Johnson said he had no plans to sell the stock…” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 7/9/10)

In the Second Position, Mr. Johnson says he will sell his stock, and put the money in a blind trust:

“It’ll be sold. I’ll be using those funds to get my message out, quite honestly.”
(Wisconsin Public Radio 7/12/10)

In the Third Position, here is Mr. Johnson, speaking at a luncheon (a luncheon!) said:

“I think that [selling BP stock] will eventually happen but I’m going to do it based on market conditions. I’m going to have to finance this campaign. At some point in time, to get my message out, that will probably happen. But it’s going to be based on market conditions.” (WisPolitics Luncheon, 7/26/10)

And that, my dear and only friend, is where the truth comes out. Like any sensible businessman, Mr. Johnson is waiting for the benevolent invisible hand of the market to tilt the price of BP stock up to where it’s worth selling. It’s Business 101 not to sell yourself short. Gauging where BP stock is now at, this is as good a time as any to do it and make money doing so.

And that’s what Mr. Johnson is all about.

Also: Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, and Chris Matthews have each picked up on this.

Dog + skunk = not good, sir.

My big dog Carl got sprayed by a skunk tonight! And not in the woods, but on a street. The good news is that a dose of hydrogen peroxide mixed with baking soda and a touch of dish soap cleared the stench of burning tires away.

Suffice to say, he got a bath tonight!

Carl, our very good and not-stinky dog.

Woohoo! Jailbreaking electronic devices temporarily legalized

Yup, for the next there years, people can legally “jailbreak” their iPhones and hop to another wireless carrier. (Now I just need an iPhone to jailbreak…) Though I do not anything that’s limited by DRM in a way that effects me—DVD encryption has not—I’m happy to see some relief coming from the tortures of DRM.

Curiously, this was authorized not by Congress, but by the Library of Congress, which is the body with the power to make this ruling. If the dense copy on the LOC page is too much, a more pedestrian reading on the exceptions can be found on ArsTechnica.