Curmudgeon's Corner

We’re about to celebrate our independence as a country on the 231st anniversary of that event. We have encountered many problems over those years and we have, so far at least, survived each of them as a country.

We’ve not always been truly“united” states; our forefathers fought each other over the issue of slavery in a war that threatened our country. But, we came through that tumultuous time and, even though there are those who still have quite strong convictions about North versus South, we are united.

We’ve faced attack from enemies abroad and have managed to defeat those enemies, often at very significant costs to all sides. We continue to face issues that threaten our country.

Our issues today threaten to tear us apart yet again. We struggle with our involvement in Iraq. We struggle with our position in the world. We struggle with the concept of terrorism and its impact on our country. We struggle with immigration. We struggle with health care. We struggle with street crime. We struggle with poverty. We struggle with changing morality. We struggle over politics.

It is easy to lose sight of the fundamental freedoms we have in the midst of our struggles. We have the right to struggle. We have the right to debate. We can voice our opinions even to the extreme. We can engage in the political arena. We can move across our state borders without problems. We can change employment. We can attend church…any church. We can educate our children. We can own property.

We have so many rights that we sometimes seem to forget what lies at the base of all those rights. In order for our rights to be our rights, we have followed the rules set by our society. We respect the rights of our neighbors so long as they don’t abuse our rights. There is always a push and pull going on within our society. That is healthy for our society is a living and dynamic thing.

It is time to step back, take a deep breath or two and think about what we have, how we got where we are, and what we need to do to protect and promote our way of life.

I submit the following for your consideration…

We must remember that we are a country of laws; those laws must be obeyed and enforced; if laws no longer pertain, then those should be stricken from the books.

We need to assert and maintain our rights as a member of the world community.

We must remember that to those whom much is given, from those much is expected.

We must respect our neighbors and they must respect us…so long as we are not violating the laws of nature or society.

We must continue to be the beacon of hope for our neighbors in the world.

We must not permit ourselves to be bullied whether by other countries or by other movements.

We must control our borders in order to protect ourselves and to provide for an orderly assimilation of those who would become citizens.

We must remain vigilant to protect our freedoms from those who would take those freedoms from us in the name of progress.

We must exercise our rights or we’ll surely lose those rights.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article by Tom Kertscher on Thursday, June 28th was most refreshing. He discussed the potential for Germantown being able to remove itself from the Milwaukee Area Technical College District and being moved into the Moraine Park Technical College District. Moraine Park has a campus in West Bend and offers classes in Hartford…both in Washington County where we are located.

Trustee Al Vanderheiden said he has been looking into this change for some time and finally brought it forward on Tuesday when the General Government and Finance Committee met. That committee voted to pursue the change and is asking the Germantown School Board to participate in a petition that would be considered by the state board overseeing technical colleges. Residents of the Germantown School District paid $5.1 million to MATC in 2006-2007.

In addition to the fact that Germantown is part of Washington County which is served by the Moraine Park Technical College (MPTC) District, that District’s tax rate is significantly less than is the rate for the Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) District.

Kertscher pointed out that the difference in tax rates would mean that a home assessed at $250,000 in Germantown would pay $442.50 in MATC property taxes versus $342.50 in MPTC property taxes. That is a savings of 23%. MATC has the third highest tax rate of the 16 technical college districts.

Students could still apply where they chose; some business group relationships could be impacted if those groups have working arrangements with MATC.

This movement has a long path ahead in that it must be approved by the state board and is so rare that the board is uncertain of the criteria that would be considered for such a move.

Kudos to Al Vanderheiden!

Fighting off tax increases on gasoline has been difficult enough in Wisconsin without having to fight off federally-caused increases.

The U.S. Senate has approved a bill that will impose $29 billion in new taxes on oil companies. Either they stole a play from Gov. Doyle’s book, or vice versa, or there is a tremendous coincidence involved. Both bills ostensibly are aimed at penalizing "Big Oil" for making too much money (a bogus argument). We understand that those tax increases will be passed directly on to those of us who buy the product. We also know that congressional actions aimed at the car manufacturers requiring them to improve mileage will have the same impact...the price of vehicles will increase significantly!

The "get Big Oil" legislation that is part of the budget debate in Wisconsin will cause our gas prices to increase by $.05 to $.07 per gallon. That is chump change compared to the hit we’re all going to take if the federal bill is approved by the House of Representatives and becomes law.

The federal bill will have consumers nationwide paying an average of $3.16 to $3.79 per gallon next year. Remember that we in Wisconsin have the pleasure of always paying more than the national average due to higher than ordinary gas taxes, and especially when “reformulated” gasoline is part of the equation. Our expectations for per gallon costs could realistically be from $3.25 to $4.00 or more!

That should be bad enough yet even more sickening is this estimate from the Heritage Foundation analysis:

By 2016, all states can expect gas prices in excess of $6.00 per gallon. Consumers would spend an average of $1,445 more per year on gasoline in 2016 than in 2008.

It is way past time for you to get involved if you’ve not been involved before. Call or write to your state senators and representatives. Call or write to your U.S. senators and representatives. Tell them you're fed up, you can't afford it and just won't take it anymore. Elections are meant as the tool for change when we voters deem it necessary. It is beginning to seem more and more necessary!

We have just officially entered the summer and BBQ season. Therefore it is important to refresh your memory on the etiquette of this sublime outdoor cooking activity, as it's the only type of cooking a 'real' man will do.... probably because there is an element of danger involved.

When a man volunteers to do the BBQ the following chain of events are put into motion:

Routine...

(1) The woman buys the food.
(2) The woman makes the salad, prepares the vegetables, and makes dessert.
(3) The woman prepares the meat for cooking, places it on a tray along with the necessary cooking utensils and sauces, and takes it to the man, who is lounging beside the grill - beer in hand.

Here comes the important part:

(4) THE MAN PLACES THE MEAT ON THE GRILL.

More routine....

(5) The woman goes inside to organize the plates and cutlery.
(6) The woman comes out to tell the man that the meat is burning. He thanks her and asks if she will bring another beer while he deals with the situation.

The next IMPORTANT step:

(7) THE MAN TAKES THE MEAT OFF THE GRILL, AND HANDS IT TO THE WOMAN.

More routine....

(8) The woman prepares the plates, salad, bread, utensils, napkins, sauces, and brings them to the table.
(9) After eating, the woman clears the table and does the dishes.

And MOST important of all:

(10) Everyone PRAISES the MAN and THANKS HIM for his cooking efforts.
(11) The man asks the woman how she enjoyed "her night off." And, upon seeing her annoyed reaction, concludes that there's just no pleasing some women....

Thanks to the inquiry from Sen. Darling’s office, the Department of Transportation has responded to my question as to accident rates on the stretch of Hwy 41-45 from County Line Road to Good Hope Road.

Part was a figment of my imagination. The crash rate for this segment of freeway is about 35% below the statewide average for an urban interstate.

DOT went on to say that the most interesting crash statistics for this segment are that approximately 50% of the crashes occurred in wet weather conditions and about 60% of the crashes involved a single vehicle only. The wet weather anomaly tracks with my supposition in the original Blog.

They went on to advise that in the fall of 2006, their highway maintenance crews did some extensive ditch work to improve the drainage along this corridor.

Again, my thanks to the folks in Sen. Darling’s office and to the DOT for their very prompt response.

My true curmudgeonly nature is about to be re-exposed. Is there a space problem in our Germantown Schools or is there a full-day kindergarten problem? If we had no full-day program, we would have no issues with a lottery, and I doubt any issues with space.

I can actually remember some of my year in kindergarten. I remember milk with graham crackers, lying on a rug for the requisite nap, sandboxes, recesses, stories being read to me and being scolded if I didn’t play well with others. I obviously had no choice but to attend half-day kindergarten. It did help greatly in my socialization…although you could argue that I need remedial help.

I may be a bit warped, but I doubt that can be assessed as the fault of having had only a half-day in kindergarten at the age of five.

Full-day kindergarten strikes me as a panacea for parents since day care rates in Germantown for half-days at a local day care center are shown at $132.50 per week. At 36 weeks of school, that has a cost of $4,770 per kindergarten child.

If my children were of kindergarten age, and if both I and my wife worked outside the home, you can bet I’d be all in favor of saving nearly $5,000 per year on day care costs while my child was safely engaged inside the kindergarten classroom.

Does a full-day actually benefit the child more than a half-day? I seriously doubt that there is any measurable favorable impact. The article in the current Germantown Now print edition mentions that, “the curriculum is the same in both half-day and full-day” according to Cynthia Coley, Director of Curriculum and Instruction for the Germantown District. She went on to say, “…the obvious advantage of full-day is that they have a longer time to investigate and explore those concepts”.

I understand that the student has a longer time to investigate and explore, but I don’t think the attention span of the average five-year old really permits their attention over such a time span.

Does full-day kindergarten cost the taxpayer more money than half-day. The obvious answer is yes. I don’t know if the state gives districts more for a full-day student than a half-day student. I would not be surprised if that were the case. I do know that teachers have either been stretched to cover these hours or that teachers have been added to cover these hours, or a combination of both. I do know that there is some operational cost impact.

No matter the answers to these hypotheticals; full-day kindergarten costs more; full-day students’ parents benefit more; the taxpayers suffer more. Why are we tasked to help offset day care costs for parents?

Sen. Alberta Darling’s office has made contact with the Department of Transportation seeking information comparing the number of accidents on Hwy 41-45 between County Line Road and Good Hope to the "norm" on similar stretches in response to my Blog of a week ago on that subject.

We’ll stay in touch and provide whatever additional information becomes available.

I may learn that this is simply a figment of my imagination, but I’ll be surprised if that is the case. It surely seems that there are more accidents in that one stretch than any other. Maybe we'll find out.

Unless you’ve been in a cave without access to the world for the past year, you probably know who Mike Nifong is, and you remember the case against the Duke La Crosse team members accused of the rape of a dancer at a fraternity party.

As Nifong began playing out the “evidence”, any sane person had to think there was an extremely good likelihood that these three were guilty. Nifong had complete control of the situation, the news conferences, and the evidence.

He was also running a distant second in his race for re-election as the District Attorney. He seized upon this unfortunate situation as his ticket back into the office. There is a significant black population and Nifong is white. The victim was black. Nifong played up the “race card” as that approach has come to be known.

DNA evidence was collected and tested. DNA samples were again collected and tested. We heard nothing about those results other than Nifong continuing to rail against the innocence of three young men whose lives had been ruined for all intent and purpose. Once accused, one can never regain one’s innocence in the eyes of most of us.

As we subsequently learned, the DNA evidence had completely exonerated the three young men…except Mike Nifong didn’t see fit to tell us or anyone else about that. In fact, Nifong schemed with the owner of the laboratory that did the DNA tests to conceal the evidence.

Nifong told no one, not the defendants, not the defense attorneys, not the judge; he told no one. Finally, a North Carolina court threw the case out at the urging of the Attorney General based on the fact there was no sustainable evidence to tie these three young men, whose lives were ruined, to the “alleged” event. The alleged rape victim even came out with a different story that cast great doubt on the veracity of her initial and subsequent stories.

But Mike Nifong hadn’t the decency to admit his wrongdoing. He had won re-election.

He has been been disbarred and is therefore unable to practice law in North Carolina. He had already pledged to resign his office as D.A. He has finally apologized, meekly and almost without anyone able to hear his words, to the three young men.

One of those young men testified and brought everyone in the courtroom, except possibly Mike Nifong and his attorney, to tears as he recounted his thoughts and feelings, as he anguished over having to tell his Mother that he’d been arrested for this heinous crime of which he stood accused. He related the expulsion from Duke and the La Crosse team. The La Crosse team coach was relieved and went without income for months until he signed on with a Rhode Island college to coach their La Crosse team. Duke officials had over-reacted with their "housecleaning" that included an almost immediate end to the La Crosse team and its season.

Nifong must be sufficiently punished, and simply the loss of his job and his license to practice law is not sufficient. He must somehow be held truly accountable for his malfeasance in office. He should actually be tried for criminal intent, if that were possible, for his scheming to get re-elected in spite of his knowing then that he had no evidence to convict. He should be, and hopefully will be, subject to civil suit by the three young men whom he so seriously defamed and injured. He must be the example that he'd planned to make of those young men.

I am not an attorney, as is probably obvious to those of you who are, but I know right from wrong when I see it. I think Nifong also knew right from wrong and did this despicable act of wronging so many innocents knowingly.

Mike Nifong deserves disbarment PLUS!

Just when I began to think there couldn’t possibly be any more taxes coming at us Wisconsinites, the Wisconsin Department of Revenue proves me wrong.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled several years ago that it was illegal for Wisconsin to levy sales taxes on companies that do not have a physical presence within its borders.

Never mind. Wisconsin has been trying to join with 15 other states that are trying to find ways around this ruling. Our Governor was rebuffed in his attempts to get this through in 2004 and 2005. However, he is nothing if not persistent in his quest for more tax money.

The Governor’s new budget contains the changes he believes are necessary to enable the state to sidestep the Supreme Court ruling. Wisconsin estimates that it would collect about $4 million per year as the result.

With all the other taxes and fees (that come from the same pockets that pay taxes…yours and mine), wouldn’t you think we could be granted just one small “tax loophole” of our very own? Must we pay sales taxes on catalog purchases from out-of-state companies?

Is there no shame in our Capitol? Is there no common sense in our Capitol? Is there not the courage for someone to stand up to this added insult on top of all the injury already being heaped upon us?

Enough is sometimes just too much!

Todd Berry, President of the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance published a very interesting and revealing Blog on the Milwaukee Biz Blog site yesterday.

His subject was the absence of any mention of our terrible bond rating, and the truth about our deficit. I have discussed this before, as well.

Our state budget people tell us that we finished the last fiscal year with a general fund balance of $49.6 million. Using generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) as established by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, the “black” $49.6 million turns into a big “red” deficit of $2.15 billion.

We were one of only three states in the whole country that had a GAAP deficit, and (ranked on population) Wisconsin had the largest per capita deficit in the country.

Want worse news yet? Our state’s debt load has grown from $4.13 billion in 2002 to a whopping $8.99 billion at the end of 2006. That is a 117% increase. We are borrowing and thus mortgaging our future like the proverbial “drunken sailor”. I have said before that we really demean drunken sailors when we compare them to our legislators and the governor.

If we put this into terms that you and I recognize from our personal finances, our unrestricted net assets are insufficient to pay off our debt unless the state sells off roads, buildings, parks and campuses.

One of the things this means is that as we borrow more and more money to finance our state appetite for spending, we pay much higher interest rates. Wisconsin ranks below 34 other states in terms of its bond rating; only three states had lower bond ratings than ours at the end of 2006.

We are not being told about this by our elected representatives. Why must we learn this from the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance? Is it because our elected representatives simply don’t have the courage to “fess up” to their poor management of our financial resources? Is it because spending is much more pleasant and continues to keep us under the collective legislative thumb? Is it because they want even more of our money as evidenced by the current budget debate?

You and I bear much of the responsibility for this because we have not demanded that our elected representatives run the state the way we must run our homes. The state budget is far from complete and that gives us citizens the time we need to get the message to our elected officials. We simply cannot permit the state to continue to borrow and spend beyond our capacity to pay. We must pay down our debt and run on a true balanced budget that lets us keep more of our money for ourselves.

We must take the tough position that our elected representatives either take care of this huge issue or face being replaced by people who will.

When this whole thing is viewed on top of the nearly $3 billion in added taxes and “fees” that we’re being squeezed for, it makes me sick to my stomach!

Call, write, e-mail or visit your representative today!

Even as the price of a gallon of gasoline falls below $3.00, we are tempted to lament that this is the highest the price of gasoline has ever been.

Forget, for the moment, about the obscene taxes collected by the State of Wisconsin; is gasoline really at the highest price ever?

Thanks to John Stossel and ABC News on June 1st, we get a little different take.

Get this: Gas is not at a record high. Adjusted for inflation, March of 1981 saw the highest gasoline prices ever.

Last week’s average price of $3.22 a gallon nationally, is seven cents below the March, 1981 record of $3.29.

Even though gas prices have begun to drop, we can look back at the good ‘ole days and shake our heads. At least so far as gasoline…things weren’t better then.

Now…can we get the Governor to come to his senses and forget about his “surcharge” that will translate into $0.05 to $0.07 more per gallon?

This is not a consumption fee; it is a new tax…pure and simple. And it is very likely that this is a violation of federal commercial commerce law. Wouldn’t you think the former Attorney General, now Governor, would know that?

Will the Republicans stand tall and refuse this travesty of justice? Or...will they roll over and chant the "consumption fee" mantra? They may do so all the way to the loss of the next election. Call them and let them know that you're not taking any more of this ****!

Wisconsin has just been exposed to one of the most partisan episodes in the history of its government! Our Governor proposed taxes on anything and everything that wasn’t taxed already, and added significant increases onto those things that have been taxed to death already.

First, where are those who voted for Governor Doyle? If you are willing to identify yourselves…and there are a bunch of you…how in the world can you possible think he is doing what you wanted him to do?

Your taxes are going through the roof just as mine and those of all your neighbors.

If you had it to do all over again…how would you vote today? I sincerely hope that you’re able to take off the partisan “soft and fuzzy” glasses and admit that he had sold you, me and everyone else down the drain to please his major contributors.

Road builders are very happy since Doyle has proposed another 5 to 7 cents per gallon gasoline tax! Non-smokers are very happy since he had proposed the largest single increase in cigarette taxes this state has ever witnessed! He has also proposed a tax on hospitals so that he can get more federal money…but we all pay both state and federal taxes…wow, a double whammy from our Gov!

Who among us is still unable to fathom that a tax levied on any entity is a tax paid by we consumers? No company pays taxes; they pass all those taxes paid directly to us consumers. Hospitals already know they’ll get the short end of the Governor’s stick so they’ll turn the newly created “shortfall of revenue” into higher rates charged to all those of us who have insurance. And, they’ll continue to pass along all the unpaid bills for services given to those who are not insured and who don’t pay their bills.

You and those of us who are playing by the rules are obviously the weak links in this chain. We pay and pay and pay…and then we pay some more…and we still elect the same people over and over again.

I am done with that! You should be as well!

Stand up and let your voice be heard! Call and write and e-mail and visit your elected representatives. Tell them that you are fed up and won’t take it anymore! And, tell them you’ll vote for someone who can make the changes desired and it probably won’t be them since they’ve blown every chance we’ve given them!

I hope you’re done with this folly, too!

This has circulated on the Internet for some time. I do not know its origin, but am always taken with the appropriateness for virtually any situation.

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package. What food might this contain? The mouse wondered…and then was devastated to discover that the package contained a mousetrap!

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning:

There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, “Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it.”

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!”

The pig sympathized, but said, “I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers.”

The mouse turned to the cow and said, “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house.”

The cow said, “Wow, Mr. Mouse. I’m sorry for you but it’s no skin off my nose.”

So the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer’s mousetrap alone.

That night, a sound was heard throughout the house…like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.

The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught.

The snake bit the farmer’s wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital, and she returned home with a fever.

Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient.

But, his wife’s sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock.

To feed them the farmer butchered the pig.

The farmer’s wife did not get well. She died.

So many people came for the funeral, the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.

The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.

So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn’t concern you, remember…when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk. We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep an eye out for one and other and make an extra effort to encourage one and other.

Why are there so many accidents on Hwys 41-45 between County Line Road and Good Hope Road?

It seems there is a significant accident at least once a month and sometimes more often.

Is it the fact that the roadway dips down low and is susceptible to rain water accumulation in the summer and freezing in the winter?

Is it the fact that traffic traveling both north and south end up on a downhill grade and lose awareness of the speed at which they’re traveling?

Or is it that we simply “get stupid” in that particular stretch of roadway? That seems unlikely unless we “get stupid” going both southbound and northbound.

Whatever the cause, today saw a semi-trailer that seriously slowed the flow of traffic from shortly after 6:00AM to nearly 5:00PM. So far as I know, there were no serious injuries…but it sure gets old not knowing if that stretch will require two minutes or two hours or more to traverse.

At times, the area looked as if a police convention were convening. The cost to the public of each of these incidents is significant although likely never measured, as such.

I wonder, if after cause is established, is there a billing to the party or parties at fault for the cost of cleaning up their respective messes?

Probably not…but wouldn’t that be a good idea?

I am greatly conflicted over the proposal before Congress concerning immigration policy. I have been giving this much thought since I voted for our current President twice.

After this period of introspection, I am no longer conflicted…the proposal for the “solution” of our illegal immigrant problem is wrong-headed.

There are supposedly some 12 million illegal immigrants in our country. They are supposedly working at jobs that we Americans feel are beneath us. The current proposal would permit all 12 million to report and obtain a “Z” card and would then be permitted to stay in the country as registered immigrants. They would not be citizens; in theory they couldn’t vote, and they would have available to them our educational institutions, our health care system and all the benefits of living in our country.

I believe it is wrong to accord people who have broken our laws something that I can only describe as “amnesty” even though that word is taboo for purposes of the debate on immigration policy.

But over and above these feelings of mine…I believe this is misguided policy since it leaves our borders unprotected and invites more and more people to violate the requirements of entry into and functioning within our country. It also appears to be taboo to mention the potential for people bent on terrorism in the United States in the same breath as the immigration issue; however, they both cross the same borders with immunity.

Finally, I believe this wrong-headed policy demeans all those immigrants who came to our country, who followed the rules and who earned the right to citizenship. Why did they go through all those hoops if it is not necessary?

I do not subscribe to the belief that all “illegals” are bad people. To the contrary, I think the vast majority are well-meaning and hard-working people. But…they are here illegally and should not be given a free pass because it is now the politically correct thing to do.

Our borders must be closed first…really closed; then we can deal with the immigration issue.