Things Warming Up For Paul Wolfowitz

Paul Wolfowitz.

You remember him, right?

First he helped plan a bad war in Iraq and an even worse post-invasion reconstruction plan.

Then when things went south there, he deserted the war business for a soft landing at The World Bank - - where he pulled some strings to get his girlfriend a raise and cushy promotion.

Ah, those Bushies. Restoring morality and virtue to government.

Now World Bank staffers, angry at the bad war planning and peeved at the favoritism for the significant other are playing a reddish green card of sorts - - trying to drive Wolfowitz to the sidelines by confirming he was watering down Bank reports that mentioned climate change - - even though its effects are predicted to hit Bank borrowing nations the hardest.

Will Paul Wolfowitz be Climate Change's highest-ranking victim yet?

Where Climate Issues Are Already Severe: A Cautionary Tale

It's widely acknowledged that talk and study of changing climates generally takes place far from our shores - - in the Arctic, for example, or along some remote island's coastline - - so we water-rich US midwesterners tend to shrug our shoulders and give our denial full reign.

But plenty of people from around here have been to Australia, or have seen Crocodile Dundee promoting cold beer and barbecued shrimp, and might therefore be able to grasp what a prolonged drought is doing to that entire continent's economy.

Read the details here in the staid, very non-hysterical publication, The Economist.

And remember that variations of these scenarios could play out worldwide.

And by the way, farmers and consumers everywhere are asking: where have all those honeybees gone?

Waukesha Makes News In Michigan Media

It's finally getting through to media and opinion-makers in other Great Lakes states that the City of Waukesha is looking hard at a pipeline to move water out of the Lake Michigan basin.

The Muskegon Chronicle covers the story here, with one noted activist and writer describing Waukesha's potential diversion an "imminent threat" to the Great Lakes.

Patrick's Projection

In the Sunday, April 29th Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, you will find on the op-ed page a lecture on city-suburban relations addressed to city officials and partisans from the paper's in-house conservative commentator Patrick McIlheran.

What I find interesting about the column is that it fixes most of the blame for the complex relationship on one party.

The City of Milwaukee.

Now I know that McIlheran doesn't hate the city.

He lives in the city, and I believe him when he says he wants it to succeed.

But you have to take that column today with a grain of salt. Like a stressed marriage or disintegrating business partnership, where each side usually projects its own shortcomings and thus the blame for the mess on the other, the suburbs get off too easy in McIlheran's review.

(I'm not trying to psychoanalyze the guy. I've only communicated with him once when he edited one of my Sunday Crossroads' op-eds, and he did so with complete professionalism.)

But if he dug deeper into the region's history and tensions, McIlheran would find, beyond the typical, dare I say, 'normal' differences between suburban and urban realities, some matters of substance omitted from today's column, including:

* Racial segregation and housing discrimination which influenced the region's development - - broadly defined - - the vestiges of which continue as potent reality today.

* Disproportionate suburban and exurban planning power centered at the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, where the city doesn't have a single commissioner among the 21-member board, and where city and the minority residents clustered there are virtually unrepresented on the SEWRPC senior staff and SEWRPC advisory committees.

* Continuing freeway expansion that eats up city land and tax base, and steers development away from the city, or gives suburban development, through road-building, an unacknowledged public subsidy.

* And the biggest power play of the last decade that damaged the city's economy - - Waukesha County's veto of a light rail that would have helped improve the city and regional economies, both substantively and symbolically.

I can tie some of those notions above together with this one anecdote.

When I was Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist's chief of staff in the late 1990's, and the light rail controversy was raging, I talked to a suburban community's elected chief official and said, in effect, 'we sure could use your help on light rail, since I know you know it would be good for the city and good for the region, too.'

The suburban officials said to me, and this is a quote:

"I'd love to, but I talked to [x suburban official] and [x suburban official]said what I'm hearing: ' we don't want the [N-word plural] coming in. I wish that wasn't what we're hearing, but that's what'd we'd be up against."

I've omitted the names, and the full spelling of the N-word. You might not want to take my word for it, or don't like the way I'm conveying the story, but it's true.

(Update: I'd add that information published in Monday's Journal Sentinel indicating that Waukesha County has applied to become the first Wisconsin jurisdiction to win federal "special authorization to pursue illegal immigrants" only reinforces the belief in Milwaukee County that people of color and other minorities can and will come in for "special" treatment in some area suburbs.)

My point is that there's a larger reality, a bigger lens through which to view Milwaukee and its neighbors than the one that McIlheran uses today.

Freeway (sic) Costs Soar: Where Is The Conservative Outrage

Fiscal conservatives and small-government advocates will complain about every form of taxation and government spending in Wisconsin - - except bloated highway budgets.

From light rail to farmland preservation to health care, so-called fiscal conservatives routinely bash tax-supported programs, but when it's the addition of more interstate highway lanes, despite soaring costs and dubious justifications, fiscal conservatives suddenly go silent.

Shouldn't s projected increase of at least 60%-to-70% to rebuild and add a lane to the southeastern Wisconsin freeway system from the Illinois border to the Milwaukee County border - - an extra $450 million - - raise the hackles of every tightwad in our supposedly-overtaxed state?

That's the fiscal dynamite a few paragraphs into a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story about the next phase of the regional freeway construction schedule, once the Marquette Interchange project is finished in 2008:

"In 2003, the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission [SEWRPC] estimated the work would cost $942 million in 2000 dollars. A Transportation Department official said in 2005 that inflation would likely push that price tag into the range of $1.4 billion to $1.6 billion by 2011."

Those are all dollars collected from the public in gasoline taxes, fees, or borrowings by the state repaid with publicly-financed principal and interest payments.

Imagine if those whopping tabs and percentage increases were presented as the reality in any other program. Conservatives would be wailing from talk radio squawk-a-thons to rallies called by Citizens for Responsible Government about tax burdens, out-of-control spending, and distorted, big guvmint priorities.

But the highway lobby gets a pass from politicians and pundits who preach fiscal restraint because business interests love highway spending and the development it pushes as sprawl into exurban and rural areas.

Public costs? Local tax increases? Spiking demands for water and other resources? Costs like those aren't even part of the highway planners' playbook or the bureaucrats' budget projections.

And politicians in both parties, from the State Capitol to the town board level take donations from road-builders and commercial highway users, creating a bi-partisan code of self-interest that helps promote silence about the real ramifications of highway spending.

Were the initial cost-estimates of $6.2 for the seven-county freeway plan deliberately low-balled?

Will any watchdog agency, public or private, take a look at the increases, and determine whether the remaining billions in costs penciled in over the next 25 years come with more financial time bombs?

Does the Legislative Fiscal Bureau or the Joint Committee on Finance have the guts to open an inquiry into the southeastern Wisconsin freeway plan?

And while you're holding your breath for those answers, count on this: there will be no relief from Wisconsin's extremely high gasoline taxes and steadily-rising transportation fees.

Nor will there be a shakeup in transportation funding that sends an unequally-large share of public dollars to highway expansion instead of upgrades to the state's mass transit systems.

In the same vein, road projects outside of southeastern Wisconsin will also take a back seat to the budget-busting demands of the regional freeway system.

Boston has its Big Dig.

Maybe we should rename our freeway system The Money Pit.

Tommy Thompson Sounding More Unpresidential

The longer that Tommy stays in the GOP primary race, the more his utterances will garner scrutiny, and is that what our former Governor really wants?

Tommy continues to tout an Iraqi strategy as innovative, and clearly he needs something new and different to explain away years of assent on the Iraq war as a loyal Bush Cabinet officer, but is leaving the American occupation up to an Iraqi referendum the way to go?

The entire notion of Tommy as US President and Commander-in-Chief is absurd on its face, but he needs to be asked if it is reasonable or rational to give life-and-death power over thousands of Americans' lives to the voting decisions of another nation halfway around the world?

We have laws and procedures for the commitment, deployment and withdrawal of US troops. That power rests with the US President and the Congress.

You can't hand that off to a third-party or foreign country.

Tommy's 'plan' is shallow campaign wordplay, nothing more, and should be dismissed along with his prance across the national stage.

Return Of The Blog, Full-Time

Been traveling a bit, so my recent posts were irregular. Much coming, beginning today, so stay tuned.

Annette Ziegler Elected to Supreme Court of Fantasy Island

What a way to start your State Supreme Court tenure: ask your colleagues to toss a case brought against you by the State Ethics Board.

Talk about setting an example for official behavior, let alone fitting in as the most junior Justice.

Ziegler is demonstrating that she has not learned from the bruising campaign and lecturing from editorial boards that laws and codes of conduct apply to everyone, and judges should lead by example, not ask for special consideration or rule by gut check.

Waukesha Legal Maneuvering, Documents In This Post

Several people, having read posts on this blog about the City of Waukesha's legal and strategic positioning on accessing Great Lakes water, have asked for simple links to the record.

Some of these questions came in the context of a blog item I posted in response to an April 17, 2007 op-ed piece by The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Patrick McIlheran, and specifically to this line: "Of course Waukesha would return the water, maybe even build a wetland for treated sewage before it flows into a lake-bound river." (Italics are mine.)

This link takes you to a 2006 explanatory article, and the documents are available in that text with a link to their pdf's.

McCain v. Giuliani: Who's The Bigger Demagogue?

There's nothing more transparent and unseemly in the political process than pre-election posturing by candidates appealing to a knuckle-dragging base.

That's what's happened in the last forty-eight hours on the GOP side of the campaign street.

First there was the newly-minted conservative Rudy Giuliani, running as fast as he can from a moderate political past that helped him win elections in normally Democratic New York City, remaking himself into a candidate possibly tougher on defense than rival John McCain.

Rudy told a New Hampshire audience that only a Republican president in 2008, preferably himself, could prevent another 9/11-type attack because Democrats would wave a white flag in the war on terrorism.

How could McCain respond, especially since his formal candidacy announcement was scheduled for the day after Rudy's fake, warrior pose?

McCain went on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart where he defended the Iraq War and joked (sic) about wanting to bomb Iran.

Both of these guys have no shame when it comes to throwing red meat to the righty GOP fringe (is that a non-sequiter?); if either wins the nomination, it'll be hard to tiptoe back towards the middle, with 65% of Americans consistently telling pollsters they oppose the war in Iraq.

From which you could also fairly infer that bombing the country next door to Iraq (Shock and Awe, II) would not be popular.

Let's hope that pandering on the war is a losing political strategy in the now-fifth year of the war in Iraq.

Belling Knifes Tommy

Right-wing radio squawker Mark Belling writes a column for The Freeman, the Waukesha daily, and in his April 25th commentary throws a knife into Tommy Thompson far deeper than any other tossed at our ex-Gov. after his recent anti-semitic blatherings at a Washington, DC event.

Belling first builds Tommy up a bit by saying that George Will calls Tommy extremely qualified as a presidential candidate.

Then suggests that some of the criticism launched after Tommy's DC blundering was unfair.

Then Belling launches the harpoon, showing just how far from grace Tommy has fallen, even among conservatives who found it convenient to prop him up when his opponents were Democrats, and GOP control of state government was first on the rightists' agenda:

"Things that were overlooked in Wisconsin won’t be ignored by opponents or the media. Thompson’s personal life, close ties to gas station magnate Darshwan Dhaliwal and his investments in ethanol plants will be dug into. Even more potentially damaging are his connections with Nick Hurtgen, his former close aide indicted in 2005 by a federal grand jury, and Hurtgen’s clone, Phil Prange. Even though the charges against Hurtgen have since been dropped, Thompson actually was still doing business with Hurtgen during the period in which Hurtgen was under indictment. Hillary Clinton may be able to get away with those kinds of relationships, but Republican voters will demand more in their candidate for president."

The gratuitous shot at Ms. Clinton aside, the spotlight Belling shines on Tommy could hurt him as much or more than his boorish DC remarks.

Earth Day Continues at UW-Milwaukee With Noted Filmmaker Appearance

Earth Day 2007 events continue at UW-Milwaukee this week, including a workshop and movie screening/presentation by noted filmmaker Judith Hefland.

At 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 26, in the Wisconsin Room, Helfand will lead a workshop on connecting documentary filmmakers with community activists.

And at 7 p.m. in the Union Theatre, Helfand’s newest film, "Everything’s Cool," will have its Milwaukee premiere.

"Everything’s Cool" looks at the global warming movement, picking up where the Al Fore film, "An Inconvenient Truth," left off. Q&A will follow.

The Union Theater will also show two additional Hefland film's on Wednesday, April 25th.

These films are "A Healthy Baby Girl," at 7 p.m., and "Blue Vinyl," at 8:30 p.m.

Both are documentaries.

More information on all the Hefland events can be found at www.uniontheatre.uwm.edu/helfand, or by calling 229-3111.

Michigan Takes Leadership On Great Lakes

Though some local and state officials fear Michigan may block diversions of Lake Michigan water to Waukesha County, and have whipped up anti-Michigan sentiment in recent months, look who's out front on water quality in the Great Lakes:

Michigan.

Officials there, according to The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, want to ban ocean-going ships from the Great Lakes because they carry in costly and destructive invasive species.

These invasive species are degrading a water supply that is crucial to the quality of life in an eight-state, two-province (Canadian) region. That includes Waukesha, New Berlin and other communities which might someday gain access to Lake Michigan for drinking water purposes, and which already benefit from close proximity to Lake Michigan for commercial and recreational purposes.

So a hat tip to Dan Egan for another solid piece of reporting about the Great Lakes and invasive species.

And a salute to Michigan for leadership on Great Lakes issues that benefit the entire region - - while also assuring Michigan, too, of high-quality water.

There doesn't have to be a contradiction in the policy-making. It can be local and regional, too.

And don't forget, Michigan did not block the Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin diversion from Lake Michigan some years back.

So business and political officials in Waukesha County who have had nothing good to say lately about Michigan might a) turn off the criticism, and b) take a fresh look at Michigan's bi-partisan/non-partisan approach to water politics.

Global Warming Action Becoming Mainstream in US Politics

From Barack Obama to John McCain, politicians are catching up with the public, which wants action to confront and minimize global warming.

One lesson to be gleaned: Rightist talk radio, from Limbaugh down to our local squawker Mini-me's, do not represent or move opinion on this issue.

MMSD Brings Carrot, Stick To Great Lakes Water Debate

Even as legislators and business interests in Waukesha County stalled consideration of the Great Lakes Compact by a state legislative study committee, The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage Commission, with little fanfare, voted not to extend services west of the Lake Michigan basin boundary (the subcontinental divide) until the State of Wisconsin approves the Great Lakes Compact.

That action could slow or stop some development in communities hoping to pipe in Lake Michigan water, but also could spur action in the study committee to get Wisconsin's Compact approval.

The amended Compact will establish conservation standards and application procedures for diversions from the Great Lakes in an eight-state area, but needs approvals in all the states to take effect.

State Sen. Mary Lazich, (R-New Berlin) and the Waukesha Chamber of Commerce object to provisions in the Compact that require all eight states to approve diversion applications.

They feel it gives power over development in their communities to the other states - - but ironically, some of that development may not take place, says the MMSD, until the Compact wins approval in Wisconsin.

So the MMSD's little-noticed action might encourage the Compact's opponents across Waukesha County to think again about the Compact's practical value.

On the supply side of the equation, the existing Compact and a separate federal law now require the eight-state approval.

In other words, no eight-state approval, no piping-in water across the Great Lakes basin boundary.

The MMSD's action establishes a requirement on the treatment, or return, side of the water equation for Wisconsin communities like New Berlin, Waukesha and others:

No approval in the legislature - - no new service extension to the area approved by the MMSD.

Conclusion: the longer that opponents in Waukesha County block Wisconsin's approval of the Compact in the legislature - - the study committee has not met since December - - the longer those anti-Compact forces in Waukesha County shoot themselves in the foot.

This is the language MMSD approved on February 26th, 2007:

"RESOLVED, by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage Commission, that the Executive Director is authorized to approve municipal sanitary sewer plans utilizing the 2020 Facility Plan population and land use projections, and that the Commission may consider requests to amend the sanitary sewer service area boundary east of the sub-continental divide consistent with the 2020 Facilities Plan and will not amend the sanitary sewer service area boundary west of the sub-continental divide until the Great Lakes Compact is approved by the State of Wisconsin."

(Representatives from New Berlin and Muskego spoke against the motion. Read item #9 on the MMSD agenda, in pdf format, on the MMSD website's February 26, 2007 meeting, here.)

Final thought: I have written often on this blog - - an example here - - that the biggest obstacle to diversion request applications from west of the Great Lakes basin in Wisconsin is what I call an exceptionalist's view of the world held by some power-brokers in Waukesha County.

By that I mean some community leaders in the County disproportionately value their importance, role in the region, or their 'right' to resources that are held in trust across a vast, international territory.

Which explains, for instance, why Waukesha would seek Lake Michigan water from Gov. Doyle through a back-door and confidential set of proposals, or why Lazich and others could possibly think that the Great Lakes Compact would be substantially rewritten or junked altogether just so a Waukesha County community could bring in Lake Michigan water - - and the heck with the entire Great Lakes region's management of a shared resource.

But now I look at the counter-productive obstacles that Lazich and others are creating for themselves - - on top of the existing and proposed political and legal barriers already making Great Lakes diversions difficult-to-impossible - - and my conclusion is that Compact opponents in Waukesha County are knowingly headed towards blowing up the Compact.

Their step one: Gut or kill the 22-year-old agreement.

Step two: challenge and hope to void the existing federal law that makes diversions even less likely than does the Compact, regardless of the consequences on lake levels for generations to come.

All the more reason for true regionalists - - in southeastern Wisconsin and across the US-Canada Great Lakes in eight states and two provinces - - to redouble efforts to bring around the critics, and get the Compact approved.

The Compact is not about Waukesha County.

The Compact is about five lakes, eight states, and two Canadian provinces.

Karl Rove Can't Deal With Inconvenient Critics

So filmmaker Laurie David and singer Cheryl Crow try to talk to (or confront, you choose your verb) Karl Rove about global warming and King Karl goes nuts.

Turns out the guy is a crybaby.

Earth Day 2007: Mixed Report Card For Wisconsin

A fair grade for Wisconsin's Earth Day 2007 status:

C+.

On the plus side, water - - quality, quantity, management - - is on the table as an issue, certainly in southeastern Wisconsin, and to a certain extent, statewide, primarily because the Great Lakes Compact is up for discussion.

And because Lake Michigan's water level is declining, setting off alarm bells among Great Lakes shippers and the state's recreation and fishing industries.

So consciousness is up, and discussion is underway, and some water planning is taking place in some communities, and regionally.

But it's not clear if the outcomes of this debate and planning will be genuine progress towards better care and use of the water we have, or rationalizations and exceptions and excuses that will enable greater demand for water farther and farther from Lake Michigan, existing infrastructure and available workers inside the Great Lakes basin.

For every positive step taken in the last year - - Milwaukee's office of sustainability gaining credibility, Waukesha's lawn-sprinkling ordinance's first year of operation, or its city council's rejection of a subdivision and annexation too close to the Vernon Marsh - - there have been negatives: look no farther than Waukesha-area political and business opposition to proposed amendments to the Great Lakes Compact.

The Compact would establish rules and standards for assessing requests for Great Lakes diversions in eight Great Lakes states, with emphasis placed on water conservation and proven need.

The opposition, led by State Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin), and the Waukesha County Chamber of Commerce, threatens to block Compact implementation in Wisconsin and could lead to the 22-year-old Compact's collapse across the entire Great Lakes region.

Either result would be a blow to the Great Lakes; in Wisconsin, water is held in trust for the public, according to the state constitution; Wisconsin officials need to respect that heritage by stewarding the state's waters, not taking them for granted or allowing them to be mismanaged.

Earth Day, as we know, was the creation of Gaylord Nelson, Wisconsin's great environmental champion. He left his stamp on the state, the country and the world.

Wisconsin needs more of the Nelson spirit in public policy, the collective mindset and the common purpose.

In southeastern Wisconsin, the need is critical.

Waukesha's Biggest Obstacle To Lake Michigan Water Is Its Self-Professed Exceptionalism

I was a little disappointed in reading Patrick McIlheran's April 17th op-ed about Great Lakes water and the disputes about whether Waukesha will gain access to Lake Michigan water and return that water to the Great Lakes basin.

This so-called "return flow" principle is central to Great Lakes water conservation, plus Great Lakes watershed stewardship, and is a keystone element of the Great Lakes Compact - - the regional (as in Great Lakes region, not southeastern Wisconsin) water agreement that some Waukesha city, county and private sector officials are opposing.

McIlheran dismisses concerns about Waukesha's commitment to the return flow principle with this sentence:

"Of course Waukesha would return the water, maybe even build a wetland for treated sewage before it flows into a lake-bound river.

The problem with that statement is that Waukesha has not made that commitment.

What it is doing is thinking about return flow options, including the use of the Root or Menomonee Rivers, but according to my sources, for only a portion of the return flow.

The rest it would continue to send away from the Great Lakes basin.

Furthermore, Waukesha twice last year sent Gov. Doyle confidential requests for permission to divert water from Lake Michigan without any return flow activity.

And only acknowledged the existence of the requests after an open records request discovered their existence and forced Waukesha to forward those documents to a state legislative committee trying to craft legislation to implement the Compact in Wisconsin.

So the record is about 179 degrees across the compass from "Of course, Waukesha will return the water..."

Waukesha would advance farther in the debate and perhaps towards an eventual and successful diversion application review if it would:

a) Formally agree to return flow and negotiate that with downstream communities.

b) Endorse the Great Lakes Compact.

c) Establish comprehensive and measurable conservation practices that integrate land use planning with water use.

That would show that Waukesha recognizes that the Compact's reason for existence is regional water conservation and resource stewardship, and is not a document to be redrafted to guarantee any single community across the Great Lakes region access to those waters.

The longer that Waukesha takes to accept return flow and the common trust arrangement that underlies Great Lakes management (the trust principle is part of the Wisconsin Constitution, so, really, forget dropping that out of the Compact's implementation in Wisconsin), the less likely it will be that Waukesha can win the approvals it will need for a diversion.

And, paradoxically, approvals that will come either under the Compact or existing federal law that gives the other Great Lakes states even more power to veto diversion requests.

Journal Sentinel Whacks Tommy

The Editorial Board has it right: He's not presidential material. His Iowa campaign, once a mere ego trip, is now The Lost Cause Tour.

More On The Public Policy Forum Land Wealth Report

The Public Policy Forum's study about per-capita property wealth in southeastern Wisconsin that I posted about a couple of days ago also contains some more interesting tidbits about the city-suburban divide in these here parts.

And The Forum posted some followup on its blog (who knew it had a blog?) about some previous prognostications about when Waukesha County might surpass Milwaukee County in property wealth.

(Plot-spoiler. It won't.)

But back to the report.Walworth County's passing Waukesha County on the per-capita wealth scale, regardless of how much real world importance it has, will resonate across Waukesha.

Why?

Because Waukesha County prided itself on being, by this one real estate measurement, the region's wealthiest county, and dropping to #2 position could spur more water-demanding, sprawling annexations pushed by Waukesha politicians across the county who will be obsessed with returning to #1.

Converting raw land to higher tax-generating lots and subdivisions is the way to win headlines, and the real estate valuation wars with Walworth, but annexations come with political and financial costs for infrastructure that sometimes zero out the tax-base gains.

One piece of good news for Waukesha County in the report: It's still home to the region's single highest valued municipality per-capita - - the Village of Chenequa - - where each resident in that "lake country" community counts for $923,000 in real estate value, according to the study.

Little wonder. Homes there must be built on lots no smaller than two acres if they front on the Village's lakes, and on no less than five acres otherwise.

Chenequa's codes are one of the region's best examples of exclusionary zoning - - a legal method of making sure that low, medium and even some nearly-upper class people cannot afford to move in next door.

In fact, you won't see any apartment buildings in Chenequa, or, for that matter, commercial buildings of any kind; the building codes rule them out.

Chenequa's homepage is really worth a visit.

The village tells its virtual visitors (and if you drive there, don't park on the residential streets, as that is illegal) that Chenequa was founded solely for residential purposes "so as to offer its citizens the peace and quiet and restfulness unobtainable in the city."

No wonder why some residents in the City of Milwaukee, or in any city, would find regional cooperation with suburban neighbors like these such an uphill climb?

Tommy Thompson's Phony Fiscal Humility Was On Display in DC, Too

Most of the reporting about Tommy Thompson's buffonish remarks to a Jewish organization in Washington, DC focused on his stereotypical thought 'process' about Jewish people.

But Michael Horne digs a little deeper into Tommy's finances and finds that our ex-Gov. has been doing better financially than he let on at the meeting.

Horne's work is relevant because the whole set up for praising Jews for being religiously-inclined to make money was some poor-mouthing Tommy did about his inability to make money before hitting private sector paydirt.

Horne reminds us about Tommy's lucrative real estate dealing while he was in Bush's cabinet, and other decent buckage our boy been taking down for some time.

Must Read Posting From The Blogger Who Heard Tommy's Blathering

Here is advice offered to our boy Tommy from the Israeli blogger who sat through Tommy's statement, and his apology.

I think, as I said previously, that Tommy needs to do more than, say, hire better advisers, but it's great that WisOpinion.com is adding links to more sources.

Major Resource Problem Discovered At Pabst Farms

When they started building a new city on Pabst Farms, right on the land through which the region's rain and snow melt is absorbed to recharge the underground water supply, people worried that the project would contribute to a shortage of water.

Today, we learn that there is a looming shortage of some liquids at Pabst Farms: Booze.

Might Pabst Farms be renamed Temperance Town?

Tommy Thompson Needs To Do More Than Apologize

To deal with the uproar he caused with his ignorant portrayal of Judaism, Tommy needs to study religious and civil history.

His Washington, DC comments, widely reported by the Associated Press this way - - "I didn't (by) any means want to infer or imply anything about Jews and finances. ... What I was referring to ... is the accomplishments of the Jewish religion" - - indicate that Tommy doesn't understand that:

a) Historically, Jews were often forbidden legally from owning land or holding certain jobs, thus pushing or requiring them to engage in onerous money-lending or tax collecting.

b) Christians, on the other hand, were forbidden to engage in money-lending, setting up conflict with the Jews who did handle money and finance.

c) From England to Eastern Europe, these discriminatory laws and practices ostracized Jews in their communities. And resulted in violent anti-semitism, hangings, pogroms and also to the 19th century exodus from Europe by many Jewish families.

Their descendants make up much of today's American Jewish population, including many people in Wisconsin. Like me.

I am embarrassed that our former Governor doesn't have a modicum of historical understanding about how great religions and civil society and law and fear have interacted, and about how discrimination developes. and lingers today.

Tommy is never going to be President. His run for the presidency is an ego trip, on a par with retirees who go to baseball fantasy camp and put on the uniform and imagine they are in the big leagues.

But if Tommy was auditioning for the vice-presidency, or appointment to a cabinet position or a judgeship, that's now out the window.

Which would give him the free time he needs to catch up on his religious and world history, and get to know his Jewish constituents and the world he lives in a little better.

Comments On This Blog Welcomed, Again

But I get to review them first. Comment away, and I will do my best to review and get them up quickly.

Tommy Update: Apology is Another Fumble

Tommy just doesn't get it.

The AP reports that in his apology (full text below) to a Jewish audience over remarks linking being Jewish and being good at making money, Tommy steps in it again - - this time saying that earning money is one of "the accomplishments of the Jewish religion."

No, Tommy. Let me advise you, as a Jewish person:

The Jewish religion is a spiritual faith. It is not a course in finance, or business.

Tommy's statements describe caricatures and repeat stereotypes, and are just plain ignorant. Some history, here.

The full text of our former Governor and not-ready-for-prime-time presidential candidate's telling remarks and apology is below.


MONDAY, April 16, 2007, 5:24 p.m.By Associated Press
Thompson apologizes for Jewish remarks

Republican presidential candidate Tommy Thompson told a Jewish group today that earning money is "part of the Jewish tradition," a remark for which he later apologized.

"I'm in the private sector and for the first time in my life I'm earning money," the former Wisconsin governor told the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. "You know that's sort of part of the Jewish tradition and I do not find anything wrong with that."

Later, he added: "I just want to clarify something because I didn't (by) any means want to infer or imply anything about Jews and finances and things. What I was referring to, ladies and gentlemen, is the accomplishments of the Jewish religion. You've been outstanding business people and I compliment you for that."

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz first reported the comments. "

Additionally, Craig Gilbert, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Bureau Chief, filed these details in a story posted online Monday night:

"Additional missteps

"Thompson misspoke a few other times at the conference, according to more than one person present.

"Blogging about the speech Monday, [ Shmuel]Rosner wrote that Thompson referred to "Israeli bonds" as "Jewish bonds." Another member of the audience said Thompson referred to the Jewish Defense League, a controversial militant group, when he appeared to have a more mainstream organization in mind. "

This episode, revealing Tommy's complete unsuitability for the US Presidency, hastens his withdrawal from what had been a modestly-charming vanity campaign that has now devolved into a self-inflicted and humiliation.

The initial Salon.com posting follows:

"'Not that there's anything wrong with that

Did GOP presidential candidate Tommy Thompson just have his "macaca moment"?

Speaking before the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in Washington today, the former Wisconsin governor explained his financial success after government work this way:

"I'm in the private sector, and for the first time in my life I'm earning money," Thompson reportedly said. "You know, that's sort of part of the Jewish tradition and I do not find anything wrong with that."

According to a report from Haarezt [an Israeli newspaper], Thompson subsequently apologized, after realizing that he'd upset some people in the audience. We're not so sure that he made things better.

"I just want to clarify something because I didn't [by] any means want to infer or imply anything about Jews and finances and things," Haaretz quotes Thompson as saying. "What I was referring to, ladies and gentlemen, is the accomplishments of the Jewish religion. You've been outstanding business people and I compliment you for that."
-- Tim Grieve'

Tommy Thompson May Have Just Had His "Macaca" Moment

Well, there's our boy Tommy Thompson, sounding like a fool, according to a posting on Salon.com. It's a paid site, so here is the text:

Not that there's anything wrong with that, by Tim Grieve:

Did GOP presidential candidate Tommy Thompson just have his "macaca moment"?

Speaking before the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in Washington today, the former Wisconsin governor explained his financial success after government work this way:

"I'm in the private sector, and for the first time in my life I'm earning money," Thompson reportedly said. "You know, that's sort of part of the Jewish tradition and I do not find anything wrong with that."

According to a report from Hareetz [an Israeli newspaper], Thompson subsequently apologized, after realizing that he'd upset some people in the audience. We're not so sure that he made things better.

"I just want to clarify something because I didn't [by] any means want to infer or imply anything about Jews and finances and things," Haaretz quotes Thompson as saying. "What I was referring to, ladies and gentlemen, is the accomplishments of the Jewish religion. You've been outstanding business people and I compliment you for that."

-- Tim Grieve

Wisconsin Wildlife Federation Named National Affiliate Of The Year

All the good and effective work done so consistently by the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation has been recognized by the National Wildlife Federation, which named the WWF as affiliate of the year.

Details here; Wisconsin is lucky to have such leadership and activism at the WWF.

Observations on A New Public Policy Forum Study

The Public Policy Forum has published an interesting study about growth and wealth in the seven-county southeastern Wisconsin region that is made up of Kenosha, Racine, Walworth, Waukesha, Ozaukee, Washington and Milwaukee Counties.

Those seven counties also make up the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission.Among the study's findings is that growth and rising property values in Walworth County, fueled by an influx of Illinois residents and others looking for open land and an exurban experience, has made Walworth the richest county in the region when measured by one index - - per-capita wealth.

Though that measurement is interesting, I think it's meaning was a little overstated by Jeff Browne, the Public Policy Forum President, in his remarks to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Friday, 4/13. Browne said the data showed..."it's time to start paying attention to Walworth County and acknowledge that county as a key player in our region...It's not just a sleepy rural place. It's where the action is."

I knew Jeff when we both worked at the old Milwaukee Journal. He was the best editor I ever had.

And I'm not bashing the study. Far from it. It's good that the Forum is also noting that there has been dramatic growth in Milwaukee County property values, driven in part by development in Milwaukee's downtown and river districts.

But I don't agree with Browne that this one measurement shows that Walworth is where the action is or that it signals that Walworth should be elevated in political importance regionally.

It's still a small, fairly rural county, and has about the population of three Milwaukee aldermanic districts.

Nor is "action" necessarily justified in, by or for Walworth County by per-capita property wealth in the first place, as I see it.

You could argue, in fact, that the action in the region - - my definition of "action" - - should be where the per-capita wealth is not - - Racine and Milwaukee, for instance, with their higher numbers of the poor, the unemployed, aging houses, transit needs, and other challenges.

My read of the study is that it highlights why Milwaukee County should not be in a regional planning unit with Walworth County, and, for that matter, some of the other smaller counties which have so little in common with Milwaukee County other than common borders.

It's just a bad fit, with too little common ground.

Walworth has about 100,000 people, of whom more than 97% are white. And apparently, lots of wealthier people, at least measured by per-capital property wealth.

Milwaukee County has 940,000 people, of whom 66% are white, and the City of Milwaukee has about 600,000 people, of whom slightly less than half are white.

And most of the region's poorer people live in Milwaukee city and county. That's hardly a secret.

It's problematic enough that Milwaukee city and county are folded into a planning commission with Waukesha County - - counties have three seats each on the commission's board and the City of Milwaukee has none (remember, representation is by county-only), but also having small counties with virtually zero urban development, and populations, like Walworth and Ozaukee really tips the planning commission agenda far from Milwaukee's needs.

For instance, is it any surprise that the planning commission hasn't written a housing plan for the region since 1975?

Would that be perceived as a priority in Walworth County, or Waukesha County, with their top-shelf per-capita housing values?

Maybe Walworth should be paired in a planning unit with Jefferson County, and perhaps also with Waukesha or Kenosha Counties, with which there are genuine similarities in geography, land-use, population and other characteristics.

And if Dane County and the City of Madison can have their one-county planning unit, why not Milwaukee?

Xoff Radio Interview Schedule Correction: It's Tuesday, April 17th, at 9:00 A.M.

Bill Christofferson, political strategist and biographer of Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, (the book is The Man From Clear Lake), will be interviewed this Tuesday, 4/17, at 9:00 A.M. on Earthbeat Radio.

Earth Day is April 22nd.

Earthbeat Radio originates in Washington, DC and can be accessed at http://www.earthbeatradio.org/

An earlier posting about the show carried the wrong date.

Comments Suspended

Some anonymous person decided to ventilate on the blog all morning - - all the comments were irrelevant to the previous post about Great Lakes water, and had veered off into homophobia, obscenity and road rage fantasies.

Hey: who needs to spend their sunny Sunday mornings deleting anonymous comments that pollute the blogosphere?

Maybe I'll turn the function on later.

Cure For Political Cynicism? Elect Progressives

I argue in today's Sunday Crossroads section that good things can happen politically in Wisconsin, despite campaign ugliness like that pro-Annette Ziegler ad in the Supreme Court race that suggested Linda Clifford was a werewolf.

Sideshows, Science and Politics Collide At State Water Committee

Wisconsin has a legislative study committee charged with drafting a bill to accept water conservation and diversion procedures being added to a Compact among the Great Lakes states.

The goal is to apply better stewardship to water usage in the Great Lakes region.

One committee member who opposes the Compact, State Sen. Mary Lazich, (R-New Berlin), is touting the advice of a Colorado professor whose advice is "chucking" the whole process.

The Committee also posted a memo to Lazich from an Ohio state legislator who thinks that the Compact might remove property rights from landowners - - a fear that Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources has told the committee is of "no relevance" in Wisconsin.

But looking past these sideshows, what have been the contributions of Wisconsin water experts to the Committee's discussions?

One of the most important contributions by Wisconsin scientists to the debate was their response to a critical line of argument by the City of Waukesha - - the suggestion that Waukesha was already technically within the Great Lakes basin through underground water connections.

That would make Waukesha eligible to pipe in Lake Michigan water without all the rigmarole in the new procedures being studied by the committee.

In response to the Waukesha argument, the Wisconsin scientists sent the committee a memorandum that pointed out what they called factual errors or misinterpretations of existing studies by some of the same Wisconsin scientists.

You can read what these Wisconsin experts - - UW-M professors, employees of the US Geological Survey and others - - had to say and see for yourselves how science and politics have intersected at the committee.

And why its work has ground to a halt.

Its website is here, and other posted committee documents are discussed here.

The Great Lakes hold 20% of the world's fresh surface water, and they are under stress already.

We need to learn all we can about this unique resource so we can contribute to its best managemnt and most effective conservation, right?

Xoff On National Radio Monday, April 16th, at 9:00 A.M. - - Save The Date

Bill Christofferson, political strategist and biographer of Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, (the book is The Man From Clear Lake), will be interviewed this Monday, 4/16, at 9:00 A.M. on Earthbeat Radio.

Earth Day is April 22nd.

Earthbeat Radio originates in Washington, DC and can be accessed at http://www.earthbeatradio.org/

State Sen. Mary Lazich has been urging the now-stalled Great Lakes legislative study committee to carefully study the writings of a Colorado professor who believes that the four-year-old effort to put conservation language and Great Lakes water diversion procedures should be scrapped.

Now there's a helpful suggestion.

This isn't the first time that Lazich asked the committee to look carefully at an out-of-state opinion that seems to have raised more questions than answers.

Lazich sent the committee a letter from an Ohio state legislator, posted on the Committee's website, that worried about all sorts of things on behalf of Wisconsin landowners.

This is the letter.

And this is a memo back to the committee from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources about the Ohio letter.

Great Lakes Water Issues' Chronology, Websites, Definitions, Documents

A good primer to work one's way through some of the context for discussing the Great Lakes water management with Canada - - "The Compact" - - is here.

Those in Waukesha County who think that scrapping the whole process is a reasonable option are not seeing the full picture.

Their self-interested exceptionalism - - (that hotlink will get you to a national news story that outed the Waukesha County deal-breakers) - - and distorted belief in their procedural entitlement to a resource shared among eight states and two Canadian provinces is...jaw-dropping.

Kevin Crawford, the Mayor of Manitowoc, is a member of the Kedzie Committee, and he had some choice words for the City of Waukesha's committee representative that have sat posted on the committee's website for months, and are among the many documents there that have yet to be covered in the traditional media.

The Manitowoc letter helps explain why I would use the term "exceptionalism" to describe some of the Waukesha spin that has helped lead the committee to its stalemate.

And let's also remember that twice last year, Waukesha tried to get Gov. Doyle, through confidential communications, to approve a diversion from Lake Michigan without going through the Great Lakes Compact or federal statuatory procedures.

Had those documents not been discovered and posted on line in a commentary I wrote for WisOpinion.com, their existence and the planning behind it might never have been made public.

Waukesha sent the documents to the Kedzie committee after they were published, and has cited them in additional materials forwarded to the committee.

Waukesha is still pushing the line that it doesn't need those permissions.