Eye on Oshkosh Viewer Mistakenly Selected Madison

Below is an email received from Eye on Oshkosh viewer John Frings. After watching Cheryl Hentz and I interview Common Council candidates Mark Madison and Kent Monte, Mr. Frings came to the conclusion that he mistakenly voted for Mr. Madison in the February primary. I'm not sure any other candidate will earn Mr. Frings' vote, because if the last sentence is taken literally it looks like he'll be voting in Canada from now on. The email is reproduced here with Mr. Frings' permission:

I have a few observations regarding your recent discussion on the television show with candidates Madison and Monte.

I voted in the primary a few weeks back and made the mistake of selecting Mark Madison as a candidate. I was not fully aware of his position on certain issues.

After watching the show I became aware that Mark Madison is yet another politician who represents the Big Brother school of government. His support of a city wide smoking ban disqualifies him for my consideration as a candidate.

If such a ban goes into effect I simply will not comply. Americans have enough rules and enough government intrusion into their personal lives, we need no more.We need much much less so let's commence the repealing.

There was discussion regarding the amphitheatre. I will propose a total boycott of the facility if smoking is banned. It may be that these people have that as a long range goal. Let's just filter out all the miscreants and those who do not march like lemmings to the beat of the new conservative philosophy. They envision some sort of utopian world order and they can always count on reactionary political types who will support whatever misguided ideas they come up with.

Every day we hear about yet another proposed law that we are going to be subject to. It is time for a total rejection of these things. We have far too many laws that govern private behavior and public behavior as well. We have the health Nazis preaching to us about how they can manage even our most personal habits for our betterment. We have the religious zealots preaching Old Testament pablum and we have the type of overly ambitious would be candidates who will invariably always propose some new law for every societal ailment. They have sterilized this society to the point that one wonders if some of the sycophants are indeed human at all. It has poisoned every facet of American life and threatens to envelope the entire world with a human race that are more automaton then human beings. Enough is enough.

These are the same clueless nitwits who wanted to legalize concealed carry weapons, want the death penalty returned to Wisconsin law and the list is nearly endless with all the other ideas they have to turn control over our lives to some government functionary.

I said some time ago and I will continue to say it until I die. America is dead or at least near death. It is time for a real revolution and that is a revolution where the people say enough is enough we want our freedom back now.

I have lived in this backwater town for 37 years. And for those who say a city that does not progress is a city that will die. Those were Mr. Madison's words. From my perspective Oshkosh has grown quite alot in some ways, frankly all the ways that matter very little. Yes we have all the strip malls, all the fast food dumps and all the rest of the service sector non job economy that fit in nicely with the "new global world philosophy". What we do not have are many good paying jobs where employee's have rights and are treated like free human beings. What we don't have is a place where people go anywhere because there is little in the way of culture, the liberal kind, and besides there's that cop waiting outside to arrest anyone who has a few drinks, heaven forbid. This ain't the Oshkosh I remember it ain't the United States I remember either. The whole damn country has gone nuts. What we get is an unceasing assault from the media, from the corporate flunkys who want to sell us some shit we don't need or want, we get the phony media who are really nothing but shills for the aforementioned, we get the flaky old farts who preach to us on cable access TV about how Jeeezus is on the side of the right and America is really not a democracy but a "REPUBLIC" (EVER HEAR ABOUT THE BILL OF RIGHTS) Which supersedes the constitution in any case. This is what we get and frankly I want to leave. I cannot stand another day of this screwed up right wing fascist country. And speaking of country I don't need to hear any more corn bred, redneck, dumb ass uneducated rural types and their sickening shit country music either. I am a damn liberal and a very pissed off one at that. Gimme my ticket to Canada I am outtttttaaaa here.

Jay Heck Weighs in on the Jensen Verdict

Jay Heck of Common Cause in Wisconsin sent the press release below after a jury convicted former Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen of misconduct in office. Jay Heck can be reached at ccwisjwh@itis.com. I interviewed Jay Heck on Radio Commentary several months ago. That interview can be found here.

Press Release:

After nearly 18 hours of careful and thoughtful consideration of all the testimony and evidence, a jury of Wisconsin citizens has rendered a resounding verdict of guilty on all counts in the felony misconduct trial of Scott Jensen. This is the first time that citizens--real and normal people who are not Capitol insiders, political junkies or partisans with a direct interest in the outcome of this trial--have weighed in and had their voices heard in the so-called Legislative Caucus Scandal--the most serious and widespread political scandal in Wisconsin's history. And what they have said is signficant and clear: Scott Jensen violated the public trust in a manner profoudly detrimental to Wisconsin.

The jury agreed that this violation was massive, pervasive--occurring on a large scale over a long period of time. The jury said that the expenditure of hundreds of thousands--perhaps millions of taxpayer dollars to gain private, dishonest advantage is clearly not tolerable to the citizens of this state. This jury was able to distinguish the clear line between expenditure of taxpayer money for the public purpose with the illegal use of the state treasury for partisan political campaiging--even if Scott Jensen was unable to do so. This jury also recognized that Wisconsin's long tradition of clean, honest and accountable state government had been seriously undermined and compromised by Jensen.

In addition to jail time and fines that will be imposed on Scott Jensen as a result of his conviction, he must also be forced to reimburse the taxpayers for the approximately $70,000 to $100,000 of taxpayer funds he utilized in his defense leading up to his criminal charging in October of 2002. Common Cause in Wisconsin sued to stop the payment of these taxpayer funds to Jensen and others in December of 2001, and in the settlement of January 2003 brokered by Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager between CC/WI and the legislative leadership, anyone convicted in this scandal must reimburse the taxpayers of Wisconsin.

The guilty verdict in Scott Jensen's case today is not the end of this long, sorry episode in Wisconsin's political history however. The Wisconsin Legislature and the Governor must act soon and decisively to reform Wisconsin's throughly compromised and corrupted campaign finance and ethics laws before this state's once good name can be reclaimed and restored.

Grooming the Guinea Pigs

This Five Rivers deal just keeps getting better and better. Today Alex Hummel tells us that "The Oshkosh Redevelopment Authority plans to spend $2.87 million to buy and move a Mercury Marine plant on the Fox River west of Jackson Street, another step necessary for the proposed $60 million Five Rivers Resort."

Here's the best part: "The $2.87 million purchase package — while including relocation costs — is more than 171 percent higher than what city of Oshkosh's assessor's records list for the property's fair market value."

Sounds like the Redevelopment Authority and the Director of Community Development are grooming the guinea pigs for Tom Doig.

Only in Oshkosh could a deal like this be announced with no statement from the mayor, no statement from the city manager, and no statement from any member of the common council. Who’s leading this city?

Hopefully Kent Monte will soon post what he found out from his conversation with Gladstone City, Michigan City Manager Brant Kucera.

Tom Fox's Challenge To Us

Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) activist Tom Fox, held hostage in Iraq since November, was found dead outside of Baghdad yesterday. The CPT claimed that Tom "combined a lightness of spirit, a firm opposition to all oppression, and the recognition of God in everyone." They ask that: " . . . everyone set aside inclinations to vilify or demonize others, no matter what they have done. In Tom’s own words:

'We reject violence to punish anyone. We ask that there be no retaliation on relatives or property. We forgive those who consider us their enemies. We hope that in loving both friends and enemies and by intervening nonviolently to aid those who are systematically oppressed, we can contribute in some small way to transforming this volatile situation.'"

Mike McCabe Interview Available

My Radio Commentary interview with Mike McCabe of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign is available here. When I booked Mike for the show I thougt that the jury in the Scooter Jensen trial would have already reached a verdict. Alas, as of Friday evening at 8 p.m. there was still no verdict. Apparently the jury ordered dinner at 7 p.m. Progress of the deliberations can be found at the Wispolitics.com site.

Pal-Meri or "Trollin' on the Blog Sites"

I had on oldies radio today in the car and they played the old Creedence Clearwater Revival Song "Proud Mary" ("Rollin' on the River"). I spent the ride home composing some lyrics for a 21st century version of the song, "Pal-Meri" ("Trollin' on the Blog Sites"). You can find the original Creedence tune here, while some prefer Ike and Tina's classic cover. Here are the new lyrics:

I wrecked a blog site in the city
Trollin’ for THE MAN every night and day
And I never had one minute of sleeping
I was worrying ’bout the way blogs might have been

Troll weasels keep on burning
Pal-meri keeps on learning
And we’re trolling, trolling yeah
Trolling on the blog sites

Preached a lot of hate on websites
Typed a lot of pain down on News Oshkosh
But I never saw the good side of a blog site
Till I wrecked a thread on the one called Babbleme

Troll weasels keep on burning
Pal-meri keeps on learning
And we’re trolling, trolling yeah
Trolling on the blog sites

If you log on to the blog sites
I bet you gonna find some losers who troll
You don’t have to worry if you got no patience
Losers on the blog sites are happy alone

Troll weasels keep on burning
Pal-meri keeps on learning
And we’re trolling, trolling yeah
Trolling on the blog sites

McHugh: No Conflicts

The Oshkosh Northwestern featured a front page story today explaining why Common Council candidate Dennis McHugh, a retired city employee, would not be prevented from voting on labor contracts or benefit issues if elected in April.

Completely missing from the story was the fact that the issue of McHugh's potential conflict was raised first by local pundit Dan Rylance on Radio Commentary.

Rapture Riders

NPR's "All Songs Considered" this week features a new track from Blondie's soon to be released Greatest Hits CD. The track is a DJ Mark Vidler mix of Blondie's "Rapture" with The Doors' "Riders on the Storm." I think it's pretty cool. Go to the NPR site to find the link to "Rapture Riders."

ABV Releases Photo From Secret Republican Meeting!

The ABV Town Square has released a picture from a secret Republican Party meeting featuring Baby Jed and Baby Bela.

Cap Times: Keep Large County Board

The Madison Capital Times has once again come out against reducing the size of the Dane County Board. They oppose a measure that would reduce the Board from 37 to 19. They write, "Slashing the size of the board will not make supervisors better representatives. It will not make them more 'connected' with constituents. And it will not increase the importance of the board except, perhaps, to special interest campaign contributors who see an opportunity to gain the same sort of influence over the political process at the local level that they currently enjoy at the state and national levels."

In Winnebago County the situation is somewhat different. Special interests would like to see a smaller county board not to gain the same sort of influence over the political process they currently enjoy at the state and national levels, but to gain the same sort of influence they currently enjoy with the city of Oshkosh government. Can you imagine what a small Winnebago County Board would have done with Park View Nursing Home? Alzheimher's patients would soon be dodging Hazel Street traffic and soccer balls from Menominee Park because the small board would have eagerly given developer Ben Ganther the green light to build the home at the site of the old Mercy Medical Center.

I'm no big fan of the 38 member Winnebago County Board of Supervisors. Their budget deliberations leave much to be desired. But compared to the 7 member Oshkosh Common Council--secrecy obsessed, equally troubling budget deliberations, and with 6 members ready to set fire to the state statutes if the city attorney tells them to--the Board looks like a dignifed Roman Senate.

Previous blog entries on county board size can be found here and here.

New Jersey Legislature Takes On Internet Trolls!

All the trolls invading T2T, OshkoshNews, EyeonOshkosh and other sites should stay away from New Jersey for awhile. Assemblyman Peter Biondi is sponsoring legislation requiring that "The operator of any interactive computer service or an Internet service provider shall establish, maintain and enforce a policy to require any information content provider who posts written messages on a public forum website either to be identified by a legal name and address, or to register a legal name and address with the operator of the interactive computer service or the Internet service provider through which the information content provider gains access to the interactive computer service or Internet, as appropriate." An operator or Internet Service Provider would be liable for compensatory and punitive damages if defamatory anonymous comments appeared on their sites.

I think this is terrible legisation, but unfortunately because the problem of trolling is so pervasive I predict it's only a matter of time before all states pass some such legislation.

Here in Oshkosh the Internet Trolls even post anonymous attacks in public restrooms!

"Depleted Uranium is a War Crime"

Political rock band Anti-Flag have a new song appearing on the After Downing St. site. The song, "Depleted Uranium is a War Crime," addresses a topic that has for too long been silent in the mainstream media. I'm not a big fan of Anti-Flag's style of music, but the lyrics of the song are powerful and include statements from an interview ith US Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Washington State). Rep. McDermott is a Vietnam vet and a medical doctor by trade, and he has introduced HR 2410 ("The Depleted Uranium Munition Study Act") which would mandate studies of DU and its effects on the health of people exposed to it. In the song he is quoted as saying:

“The doctor said, ‘Women (in Iraq) at the time of birth don’t ask if it’s a boy or a girl, they ask: Is it normal?’ …The military denies first, and then after the evidence builds to the point where they can no longer deny, then they do the research. That’s what happened in the Vietnam era around Agent Orange and I suspect and I’m worried that that’s what will happen this time.”

After Downing St. includes an activism page leading to more information about DU and a plea that we ask our own member of congress to cosponsor the bill.

Russert Should Interview Chomsky

On Sunday's Meet The Press, host Tim Russert asked Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Pete Pace if he is troubled by the fact that Iraqi interim Prime Minister Jafari apparently lists Noam Chomsky as one of his favorite American writers. Here it is from the transcript:

MR. RUSSERT: Mr. Jafari said that one of his favorite American writers is Professor Noam Chomsky, someone who has written very, very strongly against the Iraq war and against most of the Bush administration foreign policy. Does that concern you?

GEN. PACE: I hope he has more than one book on his nightstand.

MR. RUSSERT: So it troubles you?

GEN. PACE: I would be concerned if the only access to foreign ideas that the prime minister had was that one author. If in fact that’s one of many, and he’s digesting many different opinions, that’s probably healthy.

Chomksy has been the leading critic of US foreign policy since Vietnam, yet he has been virtually censored in mainstream American media throughout most of that time. A good archive of his works can be found here.

Tim Russert should invite Noam Chomsky to appear on Meet the Press. Send him an email requesting that Chomsky be on. Russert can be reached at this address: mtp@msnbc.com

Here's a sample email that I just sent. Feel free to copy my wording:

Dear Tim Russert:

On Sunday's program you asked General Pace if he is troubled by the fact that Iraqi interim Prime Minister Jafari lists Noam Chomsky as one of his favorite American authors. You described Professor Chomsky as "someone who has written very, very strongly against the Iraq war and against most of the Bush administration foreign policy." As you know, Professor Chomsky has been a principled critic of United States foreign policy and media since the Vietnam era. Why not invite him to appear on Meet the Press? I think a Russert/Chomsky discussion would represent a major contribution to our understanding of American foreign policy.

Thank you for taking my request seriously.

Sincerely,

Tony Palmeri

In the meantime, you can hear a recent Noam Chomsky interview with my good friend Bob McChesney of the University of Illinois on the February 26 edition of Bob's show "Media Matters" http://www.will.uiuc.edu/am/mediamatters/default.htm

"I wouldn't want to be the guinea pig for this guy"

That headline is a actual quote from Gladstone City (MI) City Manager Brant Kucera in today's Oshkosh Northwestern. "This guy" is Five Rivers Resort developer Tom Doig.

Yesterday the newspaper revealed that city officials want Doig to prove by May 31 that his long-term financing is "secured." I interpret that as meaning that Mr. Doig has until May 31 to get 4 members of the Council to vote for the "direct pay" option that would satisfy Doig's potential financiers but place the city at greater risk.

If the City Council votes at its March 14th meeting to grant Doig the extension, they should amend the resolution to include language rejecting any direct pay option. It is not enough to have such language in "term sheets" because city officials have now made it clear that the term sheets are not worth the paper they are printed on. We now know that when they don't want to abide by term sheet requirements, they feel empowered to go into illegal closed meetings to work out changes.

Gladstone City was smart not to be a guinea pig for Five Rivers. Thankfully for the Gladstoneians, their local government was not secrecy obsessed and it placed the needs of the citizens above the developer.

Here in Oshkosh the picture is turned upside down. We are dangerously close to being turned into guinea pigs for this guy.

Report on Guantanamo Detainees

In his latest column, Nat Hentoff (one of America's great civil libertarians) summarizes the findings of a troubling new report on the detainees held at Guantanamo. The report, compiled by counsel for the detainees and professors/students associated with the Seton Hall University School of Law, represents the most in-depth look at exactly who is in Camp Gitmo and why they are there. The report is not lawyer spin--the writers worked only from information and data made available by the government. The findings are incredible:

1. Fifty-five percent (55%) of the detainees are not determined to have committed any hostile acts against the United States or its coalition allies.

2. Only 8% of the detainees were characterized as al Qaeda fighters. Of the remaining detainees, 40% have no definitive connection with al Qaeda at all and 18% are have no definitive affiliation with either al Qaeda or the Taliban.

3. The Government has detained numerous persons based on mere affiliations with a large number of groups that in fact, are not on the Department of Homeland Security terrorist watchlist. Moreover, the nexus between such a detainee and such organizations varies considerably.

Eight percent are detained because they are deemed “fighters for;” 30% considered “members of;” a large majority – 60% -- are detained merely because they are “associated with” a group or groups the Government asserts are terrorist organizations. For 2% of the prisoners their nexus to any terrorist group is unidentified.

4. Only 5% of the detainees were captured by United States forces. 86% of the detainees were arrested by either Pakistan or the Northern Alliance and turned over to United States custody.

This 86% of the detainees captured by Pakistan or the Northern Alliance were handed over to the United States at a time in which the United States offered large bounties for capture of suspected enemies.

5. Finally, the population of persons deemed not to be enemy combatants – mostly Uighers - are in fact accused of more serious allegations than a great many persons still deemed to be enemy combatants . [Note: Uighers--pronounced WEE-gers--are Chinese Muslims].

The Full Report in pdf format can be found here.

Last night the Pentagon released the names of the detainees. Might sound like damage control, except for the fact that the names were only released because a federal judge ruled against the government in a freedom of information suit brought by the Associated Press.

Rylance posits "McHugh Doctrine" on Radio Commentary

On Friday evening I interviewed local pundit Dan Rylance on Radio Commentary. The interview can be found here. During the second half of the program Dan and I talked about how the majority of school board candidates believe that current board member Don Sween should not vote on the district budget because he is a retired teacher who could benefit from the package voted on. Dan makes the point that the opposition to Sween voting is a carry over from the "McHugh Doctrine" established on the board a few years ago when then school board president Dennis McHugh insisted that board member Theresa Thiel could not vote on the budget because her husband is a teacher in the district. Current board members Ben Schneider II and Dan Becker have taken the lead in applying the McHugh Doctrine to Mr. Sween.

Dan Rylance wonders if Mr. McHugh, a retired city employee who is now a candidate for Oshkosh Common Council, will apply the McHugh Doctrine to himself. As a retired city employee, the city budget directly affects him. If elected, will he recuse himself from voting on the budget?

Facing Poverty in Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Community Action Program Association has released a 24-page report on "Poverty Matters: Facing Poverty in Wisconsin." Scroll down to page 11 of the report for the disturbing facts about poverty in Wisconsin.

Poverty in our state is actually much greater than the report indicates, because in order to be declared "poor" in America you have to be dirt poor. An excellent article from In These Times Magazine, "Lies, Damn Lies, and Poverty Statistics," shows how "an archaic measurement keeps millions of poor Americans from being counted."

Teacher of the Year

A Parsippany, New Jersey high school teacher is drawing criticism for having students in an Advanced Placement government class hold a mock impeachment hearing of George W. Bush.

I think the teacher, Joseph Kyle, deserves a Teacher of the Year award. He is asking his students to think seriously about whether Mr. Bush's conduct related to civilian casualties in Iraq and the Abu Ghraib torture rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors. That our establishment politicians and editorialists are too cowardly to engage in this discussion in any sustained fashion does not mean our young people should be prevented from thinking also. Maybe some of those students will walk away from the experience realizing the the US Constitution and international law are real documents and that world leaders who violate them ought to suffer real consequences.

The same teacher had his students engage in a mock impeachment trial of Bill Clinton in the 1990s. I don't remember hearing any outrage then.

Now why did they need a closed session?

Today Alex Hummel provided us with a clearer picture of just why the Oshkosh Common Council went into closed session two weeks ago. I just received the following email from Oshkosh citizen Dan Rylance who responds to this nonsense much better than I could:

The Common Council had a closed meeting so the Five Rivers group could tell them they had no money. Wow! I thought everyone who has followed this knows or had a suspicion that this was a shell game. They had no money. So we go closed to talk about this.

To make matters worse, two Common Council members, who voted for the closed meeting then break the secrecy of the closed meeting and spin to the Northwestern their take on the closed meeting. How self-serving!

All this proves that sunshine is a better solution to doing the people's business than darkness.

Death Knell For College Student Speech?

That's the title of my March Media Rant. The piece deals with the Supreme Court's recent refusal to hear an appeal of a Circuit Court decision which reduced college student speech to the same status as high school.

See Stephanie Barnard's Advance-Titan op-ed for an examination of how the Court's (in)action might affect UW Oshkosh.