Week in Review Interview

I think a gremlin attacked my phone this morning. WPR called me at 8 a.m. and my phone simply would not work! I was able to get to another phone and joined Joy Cardin and Bob Williams about 5 minutes into the show. The interview can be found here.

Friday Week In Review

If you are near a radio or a computer on Friday morning, tune in to Joy Cardin's "Week in Review" on Wisconsin Public Radio. I'll be going against veteran political strategist Bob Williams from Stevens Point. Looks like immigration and Israel--not exactly the two topics I am most informed about (though I have always liked Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song)--will be on the agenda.

Talk to Tony on WFRV TV

I was interviewed today by Olga Halaburda of WFRV-TV in Green Bay about the blogging phenomenon as related to local politics. I must not have communicated very clearly to Olga, because the story makes it sound like I created Talk to Tony for my Green Party campaign for state assembly in 2004. What I thought I told her was that I participated on Miles Maguire's Oshkosh News Blog in 2004, and that I thought it had a positive impact on the campaign. My apologies to Miles--he and everyone over at OshkoshNews deserve ALL the credit for making blogs an important part of local campaigns. Here's the video:
http://wfrv.com/topstories/local_story_088175419.html

Falwell Group Will Defend City Council

The Oshkosh Common Council recently received an offer from Liberty Counsel, an organization tied to Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, to defend them in court in any future lawsuit involving the Menominee Park Christmas Box Angel Statue.

For more than 30 years Jerry Falwell has played a key role in mobilizing religious conservatives as a political force. The so-called "culture wars" are in large part the result of Falwell-influenced drives to make Christian symbols part of public life. Opposition to feminism, homosexuality, evolution, and the "secular humanism" of public universities play a huge role in the movement too.

In a sermon delivered earlier this month, the Reverend urges his followers to be "the most intolerant people in the world."

Check out the Angel Archive for more information about the status controversy.

Too Big For Broadway?

According to a legal complaint (warning: adult language in the complaint), dancer Alice Alyse claims she was fired from the Broadway cast of the Billy Joel show "Movin' Out" in part because her breasts became too large. In the complaint she quotes the stage manager as saying, 'Those (expletive) boobs are huge ... We hired you at a C and now you're a D." The complaint charges sexual harassment and intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other things, and seeks over $100 million in damages.

Alice Alyse is originally from Milwaukee. Her lawyer is Larry Klayman, now legendary 1990s Clinton-hater who represented Gennifer Flowers.

Billy Joel is not named in the suit, but he released this quote to the press: "Under no circumstances would I ever have anyone fired for having breasts that were too large."

I'm not a great Billy Joel fan, but his song "Pressure" was one of my favorites of the early 1980s.

The Lonesome Death of Rachel Corrie

British folk singer Billy Bragg has just released The Lonesome Death of Rachel Corrie, a musical tribute to Rachel Corrie, a young American woman who had joined the Palestinian International Solidarity Movement and was killed while trying to obstruct the bulldozing of a home in the Gaza Strip.

Bragg's song borrows its tune from Bob Dylan's The Lonesome Death of Hattie Caroll.

After her death, Rachel's parents started the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice.

Pre-emptive Board Size Reduction

According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, some county boards across the state are reducing their size voluntarily by small numbers in order to pre-empt citizen drives to slash them by half or more. The article claims that in Winnebago County, the special interest group Progress Oshkosh is contemplating a petition to cut the size of the the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors by half.

Board size issues have been discussed on this blog here, as well as here, and here.

Greens to Feingold: Join Us

I first went to a Russ Feingold "Listening Session" in 2000, very early in that year's presidential campaign (I think the session was held in the Oshkosh Public Museum but I can't recall exactly). At the time Feingold had expressed disappointment at the Clinton administration's rightward drift and betrayal of some core traditional Democratic principles (most notably Clinton's abandonment of the nation's commitment to poor children when he signed away AFDC, his enthusiastic support of the death penalty and roving wiretaps after the Oklahoma City bombings, and his sellout of working people via his cheerleading for NAFTA).

So I asked Feingold if he would consider endorsing Ralph Nader for President. He said he admired Nader and supported his right to run, but "I'll always be a Democrat."

The next year I attended another Feingold Listening Session, this time in Omro. Looking back at my write-up of the event, I was reminded that Feingold was the only Senate Democrat who supported then Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson's attempt to become DNC Chair over Clinton money man Terry McAuliffe. Feingold said that grassroots Democrats "need to take the party back."

Howard Dean's ascendancy to the DNC post after McAuliffe's disastrous tenure was supposed to represent a return to the grassroots, but that appears to be more true at the rhetorical level than in actual practice. In Wisconsin, for example, we learn that the "Democratic Difference" is a message of "Freedom, Family, Fairness." I'm not making that up. I'm surprised they didn't add "Faith" to that list, especially since it works with the alliteration scheme and might be a big hit with the "values voter". (The Dems like alliterative schemes--when I ran on their ticket in 1996 I sat down with a group of elected Dems including Spencer Black, Shirley Krug, Walter Kunicki, and Jim Kreuser; they urged me to run on "Five Es"--Economy, Education, Environment, Elderly, and I can't remember what the fifth one was).

Meanwhile Russ Feingold, one of the few elected Democrats who really does connect with the grassroots, since 9/11 has found himself opposed by his Democratic peers on everything from opposition to the PATRIOT Act, setting a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq, and his recent resolution to censure the president. So today in a press release the Wisconsin Green Party endorsed Feingold's censure resolution while inviting him to join the party. From the press release:

“We know that Senator Feingold is not getting much support from Democrats or Republicans for this minimal request for accountability," said Bob Poeschl, Co-chair of the Wisconsin Green Party. “We would welcome Senator Feingold into the Green Party ­ a party that defends the Bill of Rights and the civil rights of Wisconsin citizens, and holds our President and other elected officials accountable. The Democratic Party’s silence on Feingold’s censure is the latest manifestation of its unwillingness to stand for even the most basic of principles - ­ those upon which our nation was founded.”

The Greens are under no illusion that Feingold will accept the invitation. He appears destined and happy to be the Dennis Kucinich of 2008: the progressive who excites especially young voters at the grassroots while the party's corporate seduced operatives choose a "moderate" as the nominee. Then, as Alexander Cockburn argues, Feingold will "give a powerful speech at the convention, pledging allegiance to the candidate."

At some point Russ needs to ask himself what his hero Fighting Bob LaFollette would do. LaFollette ran an independent campaign for president on the Progressive Party ticket when it became clear to him that the Republican Party could not be a force for progressive policy. Feingold today is as critical of the Democratic Party as LaFollette was of the Republicans in the 1920s. But Fighting Bob did something about it. Will Feingold?

Michelle Monte Is A Campus Candidate

When I interviewed Dan Rylance on Radio Commentary a few weeks ago, he said that "there really aren't any campus candidates" in this year's elections, a sentiment I agreed with. Since then I have had a chance to find out more about the candidates for all of the local offices. There's no doubt that school board candidate Michelle Monte is in fact a "campus candidate."

Michelle is a full time grad student carrying 9 grad credits and 3 undergrad credits. She works two jobs on campus, one as a grad assistant for Dr. Crawford in African American Studies and the other for Dr. Roth in the English Department. She also works in computer based testing in Polk Library. That sure sounds like a campus candidate to me!

When we hear "campus candidate" we usually think of someone in the 18-22 year old range. Michelle is part of the growing number of "non-traditional" students at UW Oshkosh. She is certainly setting an excellent example of civic involvement for her peers.

Voter turnout may be low on April 4th, but it won't be due to lack of a campus candidate. Michelle Monte is that candidate.

The Big Picture

My interview with Annie Laurie Gaylor of the Freedom From Religion Foundation is available here. I think she makes a strong case that the Marshfield and LaCrosse situations would serve as precedent for a legal struggle over the angel in the park.

I really can't understand why the city would want to be embroiled in a court struggle over this issue. Even if the city were to win the lawsuit, which does not seem likely given Marshfield and LaCrosse, it would be a pyrrhic victory. The bitter divisiveness that accompanies these kinds of struggles most assuredly does not benefit grieving parents. Just as important is the fact that a victory in this case would make it next to impossible for the city to turn down a request from any organization willing to raise the money to place their memorial statue in the park. Can you imagine the legal battle that would follow when the city tries to say no to an organization after accepting the angel?

I'm also not comfortable with the idea that's been thrown out of using private funds to pay for a lawsuit against the city of Oshkosh. We have an at-large council that supposedly represents all of us. If they are confident that the city's position is right and just, then they should use taxpayer money to support it. If they are not confident in the position, then they should try to resolve this matter out of court.

More than that, let's remember the big picture here. There are, sadly, too many parents who are grieving the loss of children. Many of them are not only grieving the loss, but are at or near bankruptcy because of medical bills and other costs associated with caring for their loved ones. I'd urge people considering contributions to a legal fund to instead think about contributing to or starting a charity for grieving parents in poverty.

Scott Walker and "God's Will"

It's always fascinating to discover what politicians consider to be "God's Will." Today when Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker announced he was withdrawing from the Republican primary race for governor, he said this: "I believe that it was God's will for me to run. After a great deal of prayer during the past week, it is clear that it is God's will for me to step out of the race."

Keep in mind that the main reason Scooter provides for dropping out is that he hasn't raised enough money to be competitive. I guess it's not God's will that we have public financing of campaigns. It must be God's will that a campaign financing system that now has Chuck Chvala in jail and Scott Jensen awaiting sentencing stay in place.

Hey Scott, this week please pray that God throw the moneychangers out of our political temple. Please pray that He help you become an advocate for reforms that would make ideas and hard work more determinative of who gets elected than the amount of campaign cash they have on hand.

Dick Dale In Madison and Cudahy!

Dick Dale, the legendary "King of the Surf Guitar," will be performing in Madison on May 13 and Cudahy on May 14. Dale might just be the most influential rock and roll guitar player of all time, influencing everyone from Jimi Hendrix on down. His most well known song is "Miserlou"(1962), which Quentin Tarantino introduced to a new generation in "Pulp Fiction."

More surf music heroes can be found at the Surf Music portion of the website I created for my Rhetoric of Rock Music class.

FFRF's Annie Laurie Gaylor on Radio Commentary

On Friday I will be interviewing Annie Laurie Gaylor of the Freedom From Religion Foundation on a special one-hour edition of Radio Commentary. The interview will begin right after the 6 o'clock news and end at 7:00 p.m. on WRST, 90.3 FM. The program can be audio streamed live at the WRST website.

If you have questions for Ms. Gaylor, you can place them in the comments section of this blog post, email them to me at tony@tonypalmeri.com or call them in live during the program at 920-424-3113.

An archive of information related to the local angel in the public park controversy can be found here.

Radio Commentary is a portion of Wild Eyed Radio, produced by Bob Knudsen and Abby Zellmer.

Northwestern Prints FFRF Letters

The Freedom From Religion Foundation's letters to Mayor Bill Castle and the City Manager/Oshkosh Common Council can be found here and here. Yesterday the Northwestern had a story about 86-year-old Jean Gams, the Oshkosh citizen who first contacted the FFRF about the statue.

Neither the Mayor, City Manager, or any Council member communicated to the public at the last council meeting that there was any opposition to the statue from within Oshkosh, even though the FFRF's letters are clearly written "On behalf of our Oshkosh membership and complainants." Anyone who attended the last council meeting or even watched it on television would come to the conclusion that the opposition was coming merely from the Madison-based person who wrote the letter to the Mayor. I attended the last council meeting and that's the conclusion I came to.

Anyone who has been reading this blog knows that I am approaching the angel statue issue in two ways: (1) trying to understand the constitutional issue of religious symbols and public space and (2) what this event says about leadership and government processes in the city of Oshkosh. #1 can hopefully be resolved without a lengthy, expensive, divisive court battle. #2 will have to be resolved at the ballot box in the next few election cycles.

54th Assembly District Decision

After much reflection and consideration, I have decided that I will not be a candidate for the 54^th Assembly District this year. Since November of 2004 my community and media activism commitments have expanded greatly. To run a full-time campaign for the 54^th would put that activism on hold. Additionally, in 2006/2007 I am serving as President of the Wisconsin Communication Association. In that role I serve as a statewide advocate for speech communication education and educators, a role that is difficult to fill effectively while teaching full-time and running for political office.

I am honored by and thankful for the support and encouragement I have received from Oshkosh citizens. They understand that partisan politics is only one way of standing for social and economic justice, environmental protection, peace and nonviolence, and grassroots democracy.

Oops, Parks Board Did It Again

I finally got the chance to look up the actual resolution the Oshkosh Common Council passed on January 24th, 2006 approving the placement of the Christmas Box Statue in Menominee Park. The resolution was initiated by the Parks Department, and indicated that the Advisory Parks Board investigated 3 site options for the Statue--all in Menominee Park.

The Common Council approved the resolution on a 7-0 vote. The minutes indicate that only two members of the Council spoke on it. Paul Esslinger "gave a brief history of the Christmas Box Statue and stated he was pleased to have the statue be part of the city." Bryan Bain "stated the opportunity would be excellent for a citizens group to contribute to the park." Bain sits on the Parks Advisory Board.

It is absolutely extraordinary and almost unconscionable that neither the Parks Director, the Parks Advisory Board, the City Manager, City Attorney, or any member of the Council even considered any possible downsides to placing an angel in the park. Even if we were to take off the table the issue of whether it is appropriate to place religious symbols in park--is the Parks Advisory Board now ready to place in our public parks any statue proposed by any citizens group as long as they pay for it? Did it not occur to them that the city should at least discuss the standards that would be used to determine what art is "in" and what is "out?"

What makes this situation especially troubling is that it follows very closely on the heels of the Miller's Bay fiasco, where the Parks Advisory Board and Common Council passed with very little discussion the approval of a pier. You mean that the Iowa City Parks Board and Common Council are capable of discussing the appropriateness of angel displays in public parks but Oshkosh is not? I think the Parks Board needs to adopt Oops, I did it again as their theme song.

Happy Great American Meatout Day

March 20th is Great American Meatout Day. The Journal Sentinel provides some context. If you've never had a veggie burger, today is a good day to try one.

Related: On Tuesday, March 21st People of for the Ethical Treatment of Animals will be holding a demonstration outside Kentucky Fried Chicken Restaurant, 1805 Jackson St. in Oshkosh (corner of Jackson and Murdock) from 3-4 p.m.

54th Decision to be Announced Tuesday

On Tuesday I will release a statement announcing my decision as to whether or not I will be a candidate in 2006 for the 54th Assembly District. Stay tuned.

Iowa City Angel Debate v. Oshkosh Rubber Stamps

One reason why the angel statue in the public park decision has become so controversial is because Oshkosh city government AGAIN failed to ask any questions when they had the chance to. Our friends over at the ABV Town Square state it well: "Why didn't any of the counsel (sic) members who stated 'they would ask the tough questions' not even ask one question about this. Clearly at least to some degree placing a possible religious symbol on a public land would raise eyebrows." Very much like the Menominee Park Miller's Bay Pier fiasco, the Council once again finds itself embroiled in controversy because it simply does not do its homework or have sufficient discussion before approving controversial items.

Contrast the Oshkosh Rubber Stamps with what happened recently in Iowa City. There, the city's Parks and Recreation Commission had extensive disussion of placing the Chrismas Box Angel Statue in City Park at their May 11th, 2005 meeting and also on July 13th.

At the May 11th meeting, the Parks Commission passed a resolution "to support the concept of the placement of an angel statue in city park subject to approval of size, script and location and subject to a legal opinion." Notice that the Commission, acting responsibly, was seeking a legal opinion BEFORE sending the resolution to the Iowa City Council.

At the May 11th meeting, Parks Commission staff revealed that they had done research about similar statues located in city parks in other states:

• St. Charles, Missouri: No controversy at all. They feel it is an “asset to their community.”
• Rockford, Illinois: Viewed more as a work of art than a religious symbol. One person raised a concern regarding the name of the statue (“Christmas Box Angel”), therefore changed the name to “Angel of Hope.” No problems after that.
• Perham, Minnesota: No controversy or opposition. City provided undeveloped parkland. Park is named “Angel of Hope Memorial Park.”
• Maple Grove, Minnesota: Did extensive research. Their City Attorney determined it was art, not a religious symbol.
• Belleville, Illinois: No controversy.

At the July 13th meeting, the Iowa City Parks Commission staff distributed a memo from Iowa City Attorney Eleanor Dilkes. According to the minutes, "It is Dilkes findings that it would not be unconstitutional to place this statue in City Park, however, she urged the Parks and Recreation Commission to develop a policy that governs the placement of permanent structures in a park."

On November 1st, 2005 the Iowa City Common Council approved by a 6-1 vote the placement of the Angel of Hope statue in City Park. The transcript of the meeting (scroll down to page 53) reveals that the Council did not have an in-depth discussion of the matter, but Councilor Connie Champion states her reasons for dissenting. One councilor voted in favor of the resolution even though he expressed a concern that the statue may end up being used as a location for antiabortion protests.

The Iowa Common Council may or may not have made the right decision, but government in Iowa City clearly works much better than what we see here in Oshkosh. Iowa city staff did their homework, the city attorney was asked to provide an opinion BEFORE the City Council vote, and minutes of the Parks Commission and City Council reveal a serious awareness of the potential for controversy. If Iowa City were to get sued to remove the statue from City Park, at least their city government will not look like a group of ignorant rubber stamps who say "YES" without even considering the consequences of their actions.

In Oshkosh, city government is in the embarrassing position of doing homework on the consequences of placing the angel statue in a public park AFTER the city council vote. Not only is this an irresponsible way to do city business, but we're now in the position of having to expend significant taxpayer dollars to defend the city in Court if the statue placement decision stands and the Freedom From Religion Foundation files suit. A responsible government would have anticipated the potential for conflict and possibly worked out a compromise before getting to this point.

Angel in Rockford

There's an Angel of Hope in a public park in Rockford, Illinois. According to the Rockford Park District website:

This four-foot bronze angel atop a granite base is inscribed, "Forever in Our Hearts. With hope in her wing, may anyone who has ever felt the loss of a child find this place to mourn and heal." The angel is inspired by the best-selling novel, "The Christmas Box" by Richard Paul Evans, and was purchased by a coalition of area hospitals and volunteers, spearheaded by the Rockford Memorial Development Foundation. The Angel of Hope is tucked into a quiet corner of Waterside Park, at East State Street and Water Streets in downtown Rockford.

I don't have time to do it myself, but perhaps someone could contact the Freedom From Religion Foundation to find out if they have taken action (or plan to take action) to get the Rockford angel removed from the public park?