David Clarke Urging Citizens To Arms Themselves

Somehow the budgetarily-challenged Milwaukee County Sheriff found the funds to air a sternly-worded radio spot (I'll post a link later) that urges citizens to get "in the game" arm themselves for self-defense until the law can show up after your 911 call.

Charles Bronson Redux.

The spot is more a way for the media-savvy Clarke promote himself, and also to take a swipe at Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele - - who has cut Clarke's budget - - and Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn - - who is actually more responsible for law enforcement in the City than is Clarke.

The Sheriff's main responsibilities are traffic and county park patrolling.

Town Of Waukesha Accepts Limited Inclusion Into City Diversion Application

[Revised at 11:00 a.m.] The Town of Waukesha voted at its Thursday night/early Friday a.m.  meeting to allow the inclusion of defined, mapped portions of the Town in the City of Waukesha's application for a diversion of Lake Michigan water.

The Town Board action basically matches up its water and sewer service maps with the city's, which is what the DNR and regional planning commission have sought.

The Town vote removes a barrier to the City's completion of a Great Lakes water diversion application now in the hands of the DNR, and is said to offer protections for the integrity of the Vernon Marsh, where City wells could influence water levels, and also provides other protections and clarity to the Town against some potential City annexations.

The key point is that the Town and City will agree on which limited, mapped and designated areas will be included in the application as potential recipients of diverted water.

Though including mapped portions of the Town into the City's application underscores the City's intent to send some diverted water outside of its borders - - setting up a possible barrier to the application's approval by the other seven Great Lakes states.

All eight states must approve a diversion of water outside of the boundaries of the Great Lakes, and both the City and Town of Waukesha are outside of the Great Lakes basin.

GOP Consolidating Power, One Rule Change At A Time

The GOP, once righteously opposed, as one its leaders said, to changing the rules to suit the players, is pushing a power-grabbing policy, procedural and political playbook. Before you know it, the public will be shut out, as will the other party.

*  Republicans didn't like those pesky public hearings that had to be held when a state agency was creating administrative rules that have the force of law in Wisconsin - - so in the early days of the Walker administration, GOP legislators at his behest eliminated the public hearings and moved rule-making approvals to - - where else? - - Walker's office.

Daddy knows best.

*  Republicans don't like the single public hearing now required by law prior to the DNR's decision on a mining permit, so the mining law being rammed through the Legislature as we speak retains the hearing - - it just moves it to a spot in the process after the DNR makes a decision.

(All this nicely dovetails with environmental rules the GOP changed last year to more easily permit the filling of wetlands. Call that certainty.)

*  Long-standing rules in Wisconsin governing a citizen's obtaining unemployment compensation don't suit Walker, so he is getting them changed. Toughened, they say. Somebody must be cheating.

*  Like those phantom, phantom voters whom the GOP wants to discourage with new Voter ID rules.

*  Republicans don't like the authority historically placed in Wisconsin law with the independently-elected Wisconsin Secretary of State - - a constitutional position - - permitting that office-holder to take up to ten days to publish and officially launch a bill approved by the Legislature.

Why? Because the current Secretary of State is Doug La Follette, a Democrat, and he had the temerity in 2011 to take the entire ten days to publish Walker's union-busting Act 10.

The hell with that balance of power, that independent inspection of the dotted "i's" and crossed "t's," so State Sen. Glenn Grothman and Sworn Enemy Of Kwanzaa and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (R-West Bend), has introduced a bill to eliminate the Secretary of State's law-publishing authority and force that office to publish bills within 24 hours of approval.

*  Republicans hate that the Wisconsin Constitution designates the most senior Associate State Supreme Court Justice to be its Chief Justice because that has meant veteran liberal Justice Shirley Abrahamson has been Chief Justice for a long time.

So the GOP is moving forward with a complex legal and referendum process to change the constitution and let the justices more frequently elect a chief just to strip Chief Justice Abrahamson of her powerful leadership position on the Court and in the rest of the state judicial system. As with the Secretary of State's prerogatives - - these Republicans do not like checks, balances, and power centers outside of their control.

After all, special interests have invested heavily in the GOP and there expectations need to be met, and served.

*  And so, after Democratic voters in Wisconsin (Paul Ryan smeared them "urban voters," and many signed up and voted on election day, as the law encourages) voted heavily in favor of a second term for Pres. Obama in November, Walker said he wanted to get rid of that apparently effective same day voter registration process - - then backed away from it.

For now - - but do not confuse this as evidence that there is a new, moderate Walker (oldsters will remember the new Nixon) since it looks like the GOP has an even bolder way to steal the state for GOP Presidential candidates:

*  Walker has said he's open to reapportioning electoral college votes by Congressional district - - where the GOP has embedded itself a solid majority through gerrymandered, incumbent-protected redistricting - - so is open to overturning the long-standing, winner-take-all method.

Just to help Republican office holders and the special interests they serve.

"Open?"

Look out.

This is part of a fast-moving national power play.

If you can't win elections, just fix them.

Mining Interests Donated Heavily To WI GOP Legislators

Remember - - these are the very people (hat tip, Rebecca Kemble) - - who are getting ready to deliver this bill to Gov. Walker, and fast. In less eight weeks:

Shortly after 9pm last night, Sen. Tom Tiffany (R-Hazelhurst) abruptly adjourned the one and only public hearing on a controversial mining deregulation bill after being called out as the second largest recipient of campaign donations by groups that lobbied for a similar bill last session.

Of the nearly $1 million in campaign donations to 20 Senate and Assembly mining committee members by interests backing mining deregulation, $74,000 went to Sen. Tiffany, according to Victoria McMurray who cited Wisconsin Democracy Campaign finance records.

Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) was the biggest recipient, cashing in nearly half a million in campaign contributions, while Sen. Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) came in third with $52,000 in donations.

Surprise! Ron Johnson In Damage Control Mode Today

Wisconsin's Tea Party and sunspot-afflicted Senator Ron Johnson took a well-deserved media beating over demeaning and uninformed remarks he aimed at Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's Capitol Hill Tuesday - - (and really, why waste a seat on the prestigious Senate Foreign Relations Committee on someone like Johnson if he won't even attend the briefings?) - - so today Johnson began to walk back (modern parlance for apologize, sorta) his comments.

Even though the state's #1 AM radio station gave Johnson a second helping of free air time this morning to help him remove the foot he had inserted into his mouth.

It wasn't a fair fight to begin with: the inexperienced Johnson, who went from the top job position in the family plastics business into politics because he thought Fox commentator Dick Morris was speaking directly to him through the Tee-Vee (true story!) - -  against battle-tested Hillary Clinton: Yale law, Watergate hearing staff, First Lady, US Senator, Presidential candidate, Secretary of State, most admired woman in the world - - 11 years running.

VA Just The First To Rig 2016 Electoral Votes For The GOP

Virginia Republicans waited for one African-American state legislator to go out-of-state - - to the Presidential inauguration - - and passed a no-hearing, quickie redistricting law that had it been in place in November would have helped award Mitt Romney most of Virginia's 13 electoral college votes though he lost the state by 149,000+ votes.

Look for Wisconsin and other GOP-led swing states to follow suit with election-fixing new laws designed to make GOP presidential losers into winners by ending rigging the awarding of electoral votes.

Founding Fathers Validated: Bearing Arms, Looking Good

Manicured nails, a pistol and a perm gave customers higher-caliber confidence:

OVERLAND PARK, Kansas (Reuters) - A convicted felon pleaded guilty to dealing in hundreds of firearms without a license from his wife's beauty salon using the promotional slogan "where beauty and bullets collide," authorities said on Thursday.

Sykes Says New Road Fees And Taxes Are DOA. Hmm...

Where have I seen that before?

Yipes, here, on this blog:

These are ideas will go nowhere because the GOP will balk.

Or collectively be required to turn in their "No New Tax Club" badges issued by a Grover Norquist.

And that per-mile-driven tax is DOA because it requires reporting to The Guvmint the very kind of personal, financial and behavioral information that will lead to car confiscation.

WI Legislators Ignore Falling Iron Ore Demand, Mine Closings Nearby

Conservatives disbelieve science and data, whether the subject is evolution, climate change, and the female reproduction system.

In light of the massive open pit Wisconsin iron mine being enabled by GOP state legislators pushing an industry-written bill, you can add disregarding information about iron mine closings in nearby states and longer-term falling demand, as documented here:

...commodity forecasters are predicting the longest bear market for iron ore in 20 years.

Sykes Finishes Up His Ron Johnson Rescue Segment, As Predicted

Talk radio is so predictable. RoJo got his minutes, took softballs, made no news. Though Sykes saying Hillary Clinton "lied under oath" might get some attention.

Mining Votes Will Make Or Break Wisconsin, and Leaders' Good Names

Scott Walker's industry-written mining bill will fill wetlands, pollute rivers, undermine a large body of Wisconsin environmental law and revive a bad old national story and shame  - - the willful disregard of treaties with Native Americans. 

Hang your head, Miss Forward: your state is rushing to enable miles of open pit iron ore mines, in a depressed iron ore market - - operations in Minnesota and Michigan are being cut back - -  principally to validate conservative ideologies and burnish GOP fund-raising letters and TV ads, and less to promote jobs - - given the losses that will occur in the region in tourism and outdoor recreation.

Knowing that a mine is years - - if ever - - away from approval and opening in the coming bear market in iron ore, where is the Walker administration's comprehensive Plan B for northern Wisconsin?

Or a realistic, doable Plan A?

Given its flaws, this bill should never have been drafted, should never be given serious consideration other than its condemnation, but it's on a fact-free, anti-science fast track and thus will soon present legislators with one of those once-in-a-career "Aye or Nay" moments:

How do you vote and how do you want to be remembered, "Aye or Nay," on replacing the pristine Penokee Hills near Lake Superior at the headwaters of the Bad River with an enormous open pit mine.

"Nay" votes against the bill will be affirmations by genuine public citizen/legislators honoring inherited legacies and histories they have sworn to protect - - from natural resources to open government to fair play and inclusive policy.

Every pro-mining "Aye" vote, however, does the opposite and reveals which lawmakers are willing to put the interests of out-of-state mine owners over official Wisconsin oaths, shared values and histories - - including the letter and spirit of this language in Article Three of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which helped establish relationships with native people already here and paved the way for Wisconsin's inclusion into the United States of America:

"The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the Indians; their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent; and, in their property, rights, and liberty, they shall never be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress; but laws founded in justice and humanity, shall from time to time be made for preventing wrongs being done to them, and for preserving peace and friendship with them."

A lawmaker voting "aye" for the bill is saying, 'to hell with all that.'

And 'I want to clear cut the Penokees, blow a pristine mountain range to smithereens, gouge out miles of open pit scars and release tons of acid runoff into publicly-held rivers, lakes, streams and the Bad River Band's treaty-protected water, wild-rice food supply and culture.'

"Aye or Nay."

How say you?

Every lawmaker voting "aye" on the mining bill earns permanently the description laid upon Martin Sheen by Marlon Brando in "Apocalypse Now."

"You're an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill."

Key Paragraph In Mainstream Media Mining Hearing Report

Wisconsin State Journal reporter Ron Seely gets to the heart of the matter:

But it became clear during the hearing that despite proponents' claims to the contrary, the GOP mining bill does change and in some instances reduce environmental protections that exist in current mining law.

Look For WI Talk Radio Ron Johnson Rescue

Wisconsin's institutionally-senior but intellectually-junior US Senator Ron Johnson suggested Wednesday that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had faked her emotional responses at hearings about the Benghazi tragedies - - was been criticized in Wisconsin media for his degrading and demeaning behavior.

At first, she tried to respond to him with patience and grace, noting there were four Americans killed and others injured, which took the first priority. Johnson persisted with pressing his question; Clinton finally got fed up and let him have it.

National writers took note and gave the decision to Clinton, too:

Clinton raised her voice.

 “With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans,” she shouted at the lawmaker. Waving her arms and then pounding the witness table with her fist, she continued: “Was it because of a protest, or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they’d go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make?”

Johnson stopped interrupting as Clinton continued. “It is, from my perspective, less important today looking backward as to why these militants decided they did it than to find them and bring them to justice,” she said.

Johnson didn’t attempt a rebuttal. “Okay, thank you, Madam Secretary.”

Look for righty radio talkers Thursday to come to his rescue, perhaps bringing the Senate's most-sexist member on the air to let him redefine his encounter with the world's most-admired woman - - 11 years running.

Let's Not Forget: The Wetlands 'Reform' Law Enables The Mining Bill

This "freshening" was warned about one year ago:

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2012 

Journal Sentinel Trusts Developer/DNR Complex To Protect Wetlands

The Wisconsin Builders Association the other day was crowing about the wetlands deregulation bill its current and multiple former insiders had helped write.

 Regrettably, the Journal Sentinel editorial board has bought in deeply - - trusting the wolf that has moved into the hen house.

The thrust of the editorial: "DNR officials told us this week that the bill retains fundamental protections."

How, exactly, has this DNR management team earned that trust?

Note that the editorial board a) acknowledges that the state has lost half its wetlands, even though b) "the regulatory framework for development in and near wetlands often can be needlessly cumbersome and difficult..."

So why should the outcome under a system of eased regulations, faster permitting and other freedom for the wolf be anything other than accelerated losses of the wetlands that remain?

A similar dynamic is underway with the mining bills - - the Senate version is being written by the same State Sen. Neal Kedzie, (R-Elkhorn), who told the editorial board that all he was doing with the existing wetlands' regulatory process is a little "freshening up."

At the same time, the regulatory framework for development in and near wetlands often can be needlessly cumbersome and difficult, especially for projects that have a minimal impact on a wetland area. The law could use some "freshening up," as state Sen. Neal Kedzie (R-Elkhorn), one of the bill's authors, put it.

Freshening can mean reviving by adding water.

Can you talk about "freshening" a process that, through quicker building in and near wetlands, actually eliminates some wetland acreage or degrades the quality of the water that remains?

Unprepared Ron Johnson Shows The Country What WI Already Knew

Our tea party Senator Ron Johnson emerges from his total, two-year absence and shows he is not yet prepared for prime time.

Hillary Clinton takes him to school.

RoJo also accuses her of pre-mediated emotion. You know those women. All sneaky and emotional!

Key Mining Hearing Tweet Of The Day

Midwest Advocates ‏@MidwestAdvocate

By not inviting the Army Corps of Engineers to testify, legislators continue to ignore regulators, science in push to pass #wimine bill.

Higher WI Gas Taxes, New/Increased Fees Pushed, But...

As I've predicted on this blog, a state task force is recommending higher gas taxes, increased vehicle license and registration fees and a new per-mile-driven annually-collected personal tax - - all to subsidize a new binge of road-building.

These are ideas will go nowhere because the GOP will balk.

Or collectively be required to turn in their "No New Tax Club" badges issued by a Grover Norquist.

And that per-mile-driven tax is DOA because it requires reporting to The Guvmint the very kind of personal, financial and behavioral information that will lead to car confiscation.

Bad River Band Explains, Again, Objections To GOP Mining Bill

The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa has consistently opposed the GOP-backed mining bill that threatens the Penokee Hills, the Bad River watershed and the Band's treaty-protected water, land and way of life.

Its statement released Tuesday on the eve of Wednesday's legislative hearing couldn't be more explicit.

Here is the statement, in its entirety. Legislators and Gov. Walker should read it carefully.

Bad River Band Concerns with Mining Legislation ContinueProposed Changes in Mining Regulations Pose Risks to Public Health, Resources FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 22, 2013
 CONTACT:  Mike Wiggins, Jr., Chairman of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, (715) 292-7236
Cherie Pero, Bad River Band Citizen, (715) 292-9331
Dennis Grzezinski, Midwest Environmental Advocates, Senior Counsel, (414) 530-9200
Glenn Stoddard, Stoddard Law Office, Attorney at Law, (715) 864-3057

ODANAH, WI – Today Tribal leaders of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior continued to express their concerns that a proposed mine in the Penokee Range poses serious risks to people’s health and drinking water and is a threat to the rivers, lakes, wetlands, and other natural resources in the Bad River watershed.

“With a nearly identical companion bills as last session, it is clear that the leadership of the Wisconsin legislature still doesn’t understand that the Penokee Hills cannot be mined without adversely affecting our clean drinking water and our way of life,” said Mike Wiggins Jr, Chairman of the Bad River Band. 

“AB 1 and SB 1 was obviously written by and for an out-of-state mining company and will be rushed through the legislative process without formal meetings with Tribal leaders, adequate public hearings, or meeting the ten principles we set forth in September 2011 for future changes to Wisconsin’s mining laws.  

As a people and as a sovereign nation, the Bad River Band strongly opposes AB 1 and SB 1 and we ask the Wisconsin Legislature to reject this legislation once and for all. ”

“If enacted as introduced, AB 1 and SB 1 will significantly weaken environmental protections applicable to iron mining,” said Glenn Stoddard, an attorney who serves on the legal team representing the Bad River Band on mining issues. Stoddard outlined some of the major problems with the legislation. Changing the law:
·         violates Wisconsin’s Public Trust Doctrine which protects our rights with shared water,
·         infringes on federally recognized Chippewa treaty rights,
·         reduces meaningful public and scientific input before a permit is issued by the DNR,
·         eliminates citizen suits as a means of enforcing a permit after it has been issued by the DNR,
·         and creates a more complex and less efficient process for review of a potential iron mine, because Wisconsin will not be able to effectively coordinate its review with federal agencies. 

Penokee Range: Geography, Topography and Importance 

The Penokee Range, extending through 25 miles of Ashland and Iron counties, is significant to the clean water, environment and culture of the Bad River Band and other northern Wisconsin residents. The surface and groundwater originating from the Penokee Range is in the recharge zone of the Copper Falls Aquifer, on which many residents rely for clean drinking water. Seventy-one miles of rivers and intermittent streams flow through the proposed mining area, emptying into Lake Superior. These waterways are a part of an internationally important migratory corridor; birds and other wildlife depend on area wetlands for survival.    The Kakagon Bad River Sloughs—16,000 acres of wild rice, grasses, sedges, trees, streams, and open water located along the southern shore of Lake Superior--depend on the surface and ground water that originates in the Penokee Range to sustain the largest and healthiest full-functioning estuarine system remaining in the upper Great Lakes. 

These wetlands have a cultural significance for the Bad River Band and support the largest natural wild rice bed in the Great Lakes in which members of the Bad River Band have harvested wild rice for generations. Legislation Serves Out-of-State Mining Interests to Extract Iron Ore from the Penokee Range 

“It seems the primary purpose of the proposed mining legislation is to convince Gogebic Taconite to develop an open pit iron ore mine in the heart of the Penokee Range,” said Bad River Tribal Council Member Frank Connors Jr. 

 “But despite promises from politicians and mining companies, this mountaintop removal cannot be done without polluting our water. This is our land. This is where we live. We can’t just pack up and move.” 

The majority of the Range is owned by RGGS Land and Minerals, Ltd. of Houston, Texas, and LaPointe Mining Co. in Minnesota. Together these companies control a 22-mile, 22,000-acre stretch of the Penokee Range from southwest of Hurley to about six miles west of Mellen. 

The Cline Group, out of Florida, secured an option to obtain the mineral rights held for this property, and created a subsidiary called Gogebic Taconite to propose a 4 1/2 mile long open pit iron ore mine, what the company says is the first phase of an eventual 22-mile strip of open pit mining. 

For Gogebic Taconite to get to the iron, a vast amount of overlying rock must be removed, some of which contains heavy metals and sulfides. In the Penokee Range, a recent report from Lawrence University researchers estimate a mine 4 miles east-west and 1000-foot deep would generate at least 434 million cubic yards of waste (over three times the volume of Lake Monona). 

The overlying rock contains sulfide (sulfur-bearing) minerals (primarily pyrite), which when exposed to air and water create sulfuric acid harming people, fish and plants. The report builds on the considerable work done by geologists in the past, which is documented in the literature at:  

http://www.lic.wisc.edu/glifwc/penokee/literature. 

10 Principles for Any Changes to Wisconsin’s Mining Regulations 

The Bad River Band opposes the proposed changes to the state’s mining regulations in AB 1 and SB 1. For this or any changes in Wisconsin’s mining regulations, we can agree to ten basic principles for changes that would protect the environment and cultural resources for future generations:

 1.    Exclude any project proposal that has the potential to cause acid mine drainage.2.    The burden of preparing and submitting a complete application should be entirely on the permit applicant.3.    Provide adequate time for the DNR, the public, federal agencies, and affected Indian tribes to fully review and participate in the process.4.    Maintain existing wetland protection standards and the federal/state partnership in the environmental review process.5.    Correct, don’t weaken, the DNR’s federal Clean Water Act implementation.6.    Allow contested case hearings with full participation by citizens, including Indian tribes.7.    Mining legislation must not preempt local control.8.    Allow citizen suits to make sure permit provisions and legal restrictions on new mines will be enforced.9.   Require consultation with Indian tribes by the DNR as part of the permitting process.10.  Participation in contested case hearings should be paid for by the permit applicant or state.

With over 7,000 members, the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians is located on an over 124,000-acre reservation in an area within Ashland and Iron Counties on the south shore of Lake Superior (known by the tribe as Gichi Gami). 

The Ojibwe people have a long and rich heritage throughout the Great Lakes region and at Odanah on Lake Superior prior to European traders, missionaries and settlers. Treaties signed by eleven Ojibwe Tribes ceded territory in the region, including what is currently the upper one third of the State of Wisconsin. 

Learn more about the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians on their website, badriver-nsn.gov.

###
 

Democratic Mining Alternative Proposed; GOP Will Ignore It

Give State Sen. Tim Cullen, (D-Janesville), credit for trying to push a mining bill that would leave current environmental protections in place, but Walker and Legislative Republicans are committed to the industry-crafted bill they have the votes to pass that weakens those standards even if they conflict with federal laws and the state constitution.

Such is the state of the state these days,

Re-Reading Mike McCabe's Blog Post On Mining Interests

McCabe did a good job nearly a year ago, and his research is certainly is a good introduction to the mining bill up for a hearing of sorts Wednesday at the Capitol. An excerpt:

The Democracy Campaign first started noticing large campaign contributions from mining interests to Wisconsin politicians just over a year ago, long before the mining bill was introduced. All of the money came from out of state. Roughly a quarter of the donations came from West Virginia mining magnate Chris Cline. The rest came from associates of Cline's. Some of those associates are at Cline Resource and Development. Others are with a company called Foresight, which is majority-owned and led by Cline. Still others are with a law firm Cline does business with. The remainder are other mining executives who've done business with Cline.

Environmentalists claim the mining bill being pushed in Wisconsin was written by the mining industry and would gut existing safeguards. The legislation certainly is Chris Cline's dream. And its approach to permit streamlining and environmental deregulation does bear a striking resemblance to the corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council's model legislation known as the "Performance Based Permitting Act" and "Groundwater Protection Act."