Thursday, March 25, 2010

Auto Insurance Is Mandatory, Too

The last time I checked, 49 states, with Wisconsin finally getting on board this year, mandate that drivers buy automobile insurance, and driving without it is illegal.

That's to spread out the risk - - which is exactly the same principle underlying universal health care coverage and mandated policies (or the penalty fee assessed to those who dod not buy in).

What's the difference? I don't hear the far-right and Tea Partiers demanding the right to drive uninsured.

Why?

Because their policies may have coverage limits or exclusions, and they certainly don't want to be hit by an uninsured driver.

And don't want their own health care premiums and costs run up by people who run to the emergency room and obtain care without coverage.

This way, people either make a contribution into the health care system or obtain insurance.

Major Groundwater Measure Coming Up For Assembly Hearing 3/31

Wisconsin groundwater needs far-reaching conservation, and the legislative process to do just that takes a major step forward on March 31. Here is information from one of the key advocates - - the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters:

We'll never run out of water in Wisconsin, right? Well, think again.

Some of our rivers and lakes, like the Little Plover River, Long Lake, and others are running dry.

Where did all the water go?

It's drying up because our groundwater is being over-pumped.

From the drinking water that comes out of our taps, to the fishing and swimming holes where we like to relax, to the beer we brew and the cheese and paper we make, we depend heavily on groundwater in Wisconsin.

You can help.

Support Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters and our fight to pass the Groundwater Protection Bill before our groundwater dries up!

The problem is - we're not just running out of groundwater.

We're running out of time.

Where did all the water go?
(Photo courtesy of River Alliance of Wisconsin)

The Assembly Hearing is on March 31st - and we need to get a vote and a win on this important bill - before the legislative wells run dry. We also need resources - to activate our membership to send letters to the editor, make calls to their legislators - and hold them accountable!

Donate to Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters TODAY.

Waukesha School District Has $2.5 Million Seized To Pay Failed Investment IOU

The Waukesha School District was the biggest loser in a banking action taken against five Wisconsin school boards whose wild west financial investment schemes went south.

Details here.

And some larger context here.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Catholic Church Abuse Scandal, Edging Closer To Pope, Has Wisconsin Connections

Involved is the St. John's School for the Deaf, in St. Francis, as well as several notable Wisconsin church officials, and now a local victims' advocacy group that released the documents with the disclosure.

The New York Times explains.

Spin On UWM County Grounds Plan Is Dizzying

UWM oversells its unfunded and land-gobbling County Grounds construction proposal as the greatest regional development idea going (I thought that was Lake Michigan water to Waukesha!) - - thus making land conservationists and environmentalists into regional meanies, or worse.

The backers of this plan will need more than hype and PR to make it authentic and attractive and good for the County Grounds, too.

UWM is behaving like a cereal maker rolling out its new Sugar Cube Nuggets as a healthy breakfast and intimating that critics who dampen the enthusiasm might end up hurting production workers and ad staffers.

Finish The Work On Energy Bill

Pressure building to get the energy jobs & climate bill through the Senate. The House did its part.

Details from Repower America, here.

Talgo Train Plant Set For Milwaukee: Facts And Myths

Tom Daykin has the facts and even dives into the comment section to undo some of the myths.

This is a great day for Milwaukee and its workforce.

When the wind turbine plant is up and running in the Valley, Milwaukee can begin to make a claim as a green-jobs, alternative-energy hub.

Many recent Milwaukee initiatives were catalogued here.

Waukesha County Opts Out Of Regional Transit; Milwaukee Should Do The Same With Water

Well, it's official; The Waukesha County Board of Supervisors has decided - - unanimously - - to decline joining a regional transit authority.

This is not the first time that Waukesha County has blocked transit links with Milwaukee: it was the Waukesha County Board that voted down a regional transportation recommendation that included major highway improvements and light rail connections with Milwaukee.

And in late 2007, Waukesha County chose not to continue fundiung a direct bus line connecting the two counties - - Route #9.

"I didn't think it was worth saving," said Waukesha County's Director of Public Works.

Waukesha County prefers to keep job opportunities more accessible to residents there than share them with out-of-county people - - and particularly with Milwaukee, where more than 30% of the residents do not have access to cars.

This is especially true in Milwaukee's central city, which is heavily African-American.

Whether intentional or not, Waukesha County's transit disconnects fall heavily on the largest concentration of minorities in Southeastern Wisconsin, and are fundamentally discriminatory.

This may legally fall into home rule powers. I'm not a lawyer and don't know whether, on its face, the County Board has violated US Civil Rights statutes.

But my attitude is: if Waukesha County will not share transit resources, and will not establish those crucial connections, then Milwaukee should not sell water to the City of Waukesha - - Waukesha County's largest city, with a water service territory set to sprawl to the south and west into the Town of Waukesha, Genesee and elsewhere.

Waukesha County wants to go it alone on transit, and withhold the workforce opportunities that transit brings to the region.

Milwaukee can and should do the same with Lake Michigan water and its city Water Works, and let the City of Waukesha and other water-hungry sprawl centers in Waukesha County continue to tap and clean their deep and shallow aquifers, and rivers, for the water they need.

Waukesha County has taken off the gloves.

Supervisors representing the City of Waukesha were in the exclusionist and isolationist bloc, so the power politics have begun, and Milwaukee can't allow itself to be the patsy.

End of story.

The Palin Ego Express

And I don't mean her reality TV show.

In The Senate, More "No" For The GOP, Country

The Republican Party will continue its negative strategy, if you can call it one, in a futile attempt to derail health care legislation in Senate, reports the Washington Post.

This one-note, isolationist approach won't resonate much farther than the GOP's already-stoked base - - about 40% of the electorate, maybe.

They say they intend to carry this plan right through the election, hoping for Tea Partiers' votes, which means they will have lug along all those goofballs' excesses - - the racial and homophobic taunts, the crazed talk radio foaming and I'm guessing that will drive the middle back towards the Democrats.

Because they Democrats can say they are solving problems and governing while the Republicans and their shock troops are busy acting out.

MATC Green Summit Begins Wednesday Morning

The occasion is at hand! the great 2010 Green Energy Summit starts Wednesday and runs through Friday at the Midwest Airlines Center. 8 A.M. to 5:30 P.M. every day.

Don't miss this rare and extraordinary opportunity!

REGISTER NOW AT http://greenenergysummit.us/!

ALL STUDENTS MAY REGISTER FREE OF CHARGE!!
Faculty and staff of educational institutions and employees of not-for-profit organizations are entitled to significant discounts!
MATC employees contact Shelly Conroy for a registration scholarship (297-7712 or conroym@matc.edu).

Nine plenary sessions spotlighting an amazing array of keynote speakers on everything to do with energy, the economy, the environment, education, and jobs! In short, the future! (Check out the attached program and flyers!)

Scores of wonderful exhibits by big and little corporations, big and little colleges and universities, non-profit organizations and governmental agencies. There will be a special cluster of Jobs Information booths! Free refreshments in the grand EXHIBITS HALL!

Topical sessions each afternoon on a diverse array of energy, business, education and sustainability subjects! If you plan to live and work on planet Earth in the future, there's a lot of importance and interest for you at the great 2010 GREEN ENERGY SUMMIT!

This is the green event of the year in southeast Wisconsin! Come, enjoy, network and learn!

It's win, win, win!

PLEASE ENCOURAGE STUDENTS AND COLLEAGUES TO EXPLORE AND EXPERIENCE THIS VERY SPECIAL GATHERING!

REGISTER NOW AT http://greenenergysummit.us/

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Send Rush To Costa Rica

Funny website raising dollars to help Rush Limbaugh keep his word and move to Costa Rica if health care reform passed the Congress.

Good news for Rush: Costa Rica has universal health insurance.

Health Care Reform Has Not Slowed The Dow Jones

One of the many, post-health care reform approval predictions on Fox that will be proven baseless.

Details here.

Right Wing Talk Radio Stirring The Pot, Again And Again

Yesterday's low-lights from the world of rightist hysteria on the radio:

Rush Limbaugh ranting that President Obama is divisive - - look who's talking - - and that voters need to "wipe out" the Democrats who supported the health care bill.

Another big-microphone talker in New York threw out this ignorant and contradictory - - but demagogic line about the health care bill - - "[It's] Communism, socialism, fascism, whatever you call it, that's not what this country was designed to be."

Details here.

Followed later by Michael Savage claiming that Obama is being allowed to seize power in ways never attempted by a Caucasian President - - along with a prediction that Obama will be President for 40 years once 32 million illegal aliens - - mostly "la Raza" - - get the vote, because a bill will be passed to eliminate what Savage called "term limits."

Aside from being ridiculous, Savage knows that passage of a mere bill will do nothing because the two-term Presidential term limit is in the US Constitution and would need a vote of three -quarters of the states for ratification.

The fear-mongering and race-baiting continues, though there are voices of reason elsewhere.

The Party Of "No" Says "Yes" To Financial Chaos

Apparently the COP, not satisfied with letting Wall Street cripple the economy in 2008, wants to let the financial barons run amok again.

Saying "no" to financial reform is bad for the country and even worse politics. So be it.

Water Wars In Waukesha

Internal, within the Town of Waukesha, with fingers pointed at the City, too.

And a new flank may be opened to the East, in 'Tosa.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Would Waukesha Want Wauwatosa To Dump Its Wastewater Into the Fox River?

Pretty good crowd Monday night at the Wauwatosa Public Library to see poster boards and hear details about Waukesha's plan to discharge its wastewater into Underwood Creek.

The discharge plan is a key component of Waukesha's Lake Michigan diversion scheme.

The Great Lakes Compact says the water has to be returned, and Waukesha has decided that piping it to Underwood Creek - - on average, 10.9 million gallons daily - - is less expensive that piping it all the way back to the Lake, or returning it in a pipe to the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage Commission.

Reviews and approvals for the many local and state and Great Lakes regional phases of the Waukesha diversion application process are years down the road, and it is too soon to say whether the return flow plan turning Underwood Creek into a wastewater tributary will pass muster at the DNR and in Wauwatosa.

I talked to a few Wauwatosa residents at the meeting, which was informational only and not a public hearing.

That will come later.

But it's fair to say they had major concerns about Underwood Creek being used as the discharge point for Waukesha's wastewater.

Turn the argument around:

Would Waukesha citizens have similar concerns if an out-of-county community, say, Wauwatosa, decided it was in its financial interest to dump all its wastewater into the Fox River as it ran through the heart of Waukesha?

I would think so. Correctly.

World Bank Ignores Water-Starved Countries

Not much progress closing the gap between the haves and have-nots.

Tommy Thompson Confused About His Work

How would he keep his Senatorial calendars straight?

Laugh Along With Cong. Randy ("Baby Killer") Neugebauer's Plea For Civil Communication

Serving the 19th District of Texas

epublican?

Why am I a Republican?

"Recently, a well known conservative pollster challenged a group of women to come up with a 7 second answer to the question, “Why I am a Republican?”.

Her challenge was to encourage conservatives to quit being attractive to an elite group of ourselves. We should be the party that has our arms open to those that are now disenfranchised with the Democratic party and with our President. In order to win back the majority we need to be on the offense.

As conservatives, we know that we have the right ideas, the right message, the right values. But, we have to have a way to communicate that effectively.

We can dominate the conversation with statistics and facts - but winning their vote isn’t attainable unless we are open to being personable.

Let’s return to our roots of being the party of the great communicator. Republicans had that idea long before Obama. So, why should we allow him to be the only one making friends?

The conservative movement is the place to be. We have great ideas and a passion to get America back on the right track and back in the majority.

So, why are you a Republican?

The next time you hear a liberal talking politics—join the conversation! Let them know why you are a conservative Republican and invite them to join you.

You may be surprised at the number of people who have traditionally voted Democrat, but are willing to hear what you have to say."

That was the end of his statement.

[Here is his admission, fyi: ]