Bus Instead of Drive...

The Riteway/WCCE bus to and from the State Fair is a great deal in my estimation.  I have become a convert after this my third year of using this service.  A pleasant ride down and back.  Buses every half-hour.  Clean.  Relatively inexpensive.  And, discounted State Fair tickets courtesy of All American on Mequon Road in G'town.

Future Drop-Out?

Soon after arriving, I had an experience that has haunted me since.  I do not mean to be offensive, but I suspect some will be offended.  I heard a man hollering and saw, some distance ahead, a mother and son (about 5 years old).  All were well-dressed and neat in appearance.  They were working on some problem the son was having and the son had dropped a near-life size Spiderman game prize on the street while this went on.  That father was furious that 'Spidey' was on the street (although the street was clean and dry for a street).  The mother, who had been quiet until the hollering began, also commenced to scream and berate the boy.  The boy looked bewildered and then began to cry, only provoking more hollering and the use of epitaphs that refer to one's mother derogatorily.  Both mother and father used this term in addition to telling the boy that he was "stupid".  Then, the father, apparently having done his duty, turned and left to go back in the direction of the inner fairgrounds eating his 'blooming onion' while the mother and son walked toward the exit on 84th street.  Mom continued to berate the son verbally.  I didn't see any physical involvement.  There was no intervention by fairground security if they were even aware.

This was a 'stomach-turning' display.  There is no other way to describe it.  It was so out of the ordinary for me that I was dumbfounded.  It was over very quickly for me (except for the images in my mind) but the little guy lives in that world 24/7.

Frankly, this immediately brought to mind another drop-out at the age of fourteen or so adding to the woes of the Milwaukee Public School system and society some nine years from now, if it takes that long, and if he survives that long.  What kind of future does that young man have if he continues to be raised and educated in his current environment?  Where did society take the wrong turn that created the environment that produced Mom and Dad?

Economic/Political Indicator?

There seemed to be less lugging of mops and brooms and other 'fair goodies' this year than last.  The hawkers had smaller audiences, if an audience at all.  I saw two political party booths: Democrat and Libertarian.  I may've missed the other major party's booth but I don't know where it was.  If it is any consolation, neither were over-populated at the time I passed them.  To think the people were all at the other party's booth is, however, to be naive.  I saw one Obama button being worn and that was by a person who had boarded the bus in West Bend.

That was it for this year's fair experience other than to say the weather couldn't have been better.  We again saw Rhonda and her husband performing at Rupena's renewing a friendship of my wife's.  I guess my overall experience of the fair was over-shadowed by that early encounter with the highly dysfunctional family.  That was a 'downer', to borrow a term from a younger generation, that I'll carry for some time.

United Van Lines recently released its 2007 survey of migration patterns from state-to-state across the country.  It shows that, while Wisconsin is not yet listed as a 'high outbound' state, it is nearing that designation with 54.6% of moves being out of the state rather than into the state.  55% is the trigger point to move into the high outbound category.  This trend has been evident since United started this survey in 1977.

Given our winter so far this year, we might blame some of these outbound moves on that.  North Carolina was the highest rated inbound state, followed by Alabama, South Carolina, West Virginia and Tennessee.

Great Lakes states were in the high outbound category with Michigan on top, and North Dakota, New Jersey, Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Ohio included.

The Wall Street Journal carried this a step further in a morning Editorial by establishing a significant link to the outbound states.  Each outbound state is a high tax state.  And, the eight states without an income tax are all inbound states.

The Dakotas are an excellent example of this movement.  North Dakota ranked second worst in outbound migration in 2007.  South Dakota ranked in the top 10 inbound states.  North Dakota has an income tax, and South Dakota does not.

Winter isn't the culprit there, and it isn't the culprit in the rest of the Great Lakes states.

Our politicians need to wake up and recognize that rising tax rates drive people away.  Just as the increase in tobacco taxes will ultimately result in far lower tobacco tax collections, the same holds true for taxes in general.  When tax rates are decreased, actual tax collection increases over time.  Similarly, when tax rates are increased, actual tax collection goes down over time.

One sure way to reduce tax collection is to drive people away from our state.  And it seems we're in that mode based on United's study over the years.

Earmarks...

The Republicans are fighting amongst themselves over whether or not to try to control their budget 'earmarks', and if so, how to proceed.  The party's elected members met over the week-end and failed to take any real steps to end earmarks.  The President is expected to address earmarks in his State of the Union address this evening.  It is reported that he will tell Congress that he'll veto any appropriation bills for 2009 that have greater than 50% as much in the way of earmarks as the same bill in 2008 carried.

That is a start, but until we have convinced our elected officials that they are spending our money and not their money, we will make little if any real progress.

And, this may well be the only true bipartisan area we have.  It is an affliction of both major parties as well as the small group calling themselves independents.

Limits On The WCCA...

WCCA stands for Wisconsin Consolidated Court Automation and it has a website that you can access here.

This site permits any citizen to locate information about court decisions, charges filed, cases scheduled and so on by county.  If you have an interest in where the case involving John and Jane Doe stands, you would access the site, pick the county (if you know it) and key in one of the names.  You'll then see the actions that have been taken, dismissals if that is the case, etc.

For some strange reason there have been two recent attempts to limit public access.  Last summer, two Democrats (Schneider of Wisconsin Rapids and Kessler of Milwaukee) mounted such an effort.  They would've permitted access only for court officials, law enforcement personnel, attorneys and journalists.  Now Rep. Vos (R-Racine) and Sen. Lassa (D-Stevens Point) want to limit access by removing certain cases from this site.  Those cases or charges would include a civil forfeiture or misdemeanor within 90 days after dismissal, a finding of not guilty or if the case has been overturned on appeal and then dismissed.  Felonies would carry the same requirement except the time frame would be extended to 120 days.

Both of these efforts are misguided at best and an assault on our rights at worst.  Wouldn't the accused rather have the information there for all to see if he or she had been absolved or if the case had been dismissed.  Why would we be concerned about those convicted? 

An example of the significance can be found in articles now running in the Journal Sentinel concerning physicians who have been involved in numerous complaints alledging malpractice over the course of time.  Many of those records would become unavailable under these efforts to wipe the slate clean.  This is not only an assault on our rights but it is also potentially going to endanger lives.

Anti-Gun Proposals...

Many in the group that would outlaw ownership of guns, or the group that wants to ban the carrying of guns (that is legal in 47 other states) would have us believe that their solution is the answer.

Here are some snippets that seem to point in the other direction:

• New Jersey adopted a very strict gun law in 1966 and by 1968 the murder rate was up 46% and the robbery rate was up nearly 100%.
• Hawaii adopted a series of anti-gun laws and its murder rate tripled over the next ten years.
• Washington, D.C. imposed strict gun control laws in 1976; its murder rate has grown by 134% since.
• England banned handgun ownership in 1997, and the number of citizens injured by firearms has more than doubled since.
• Prior to these actions, the statistics cited had been falling.

When guns are banned, only the bad guys have guns.  In states where concealed carry laws are in place, the bad guys really have to think hard about trying anything.

Miller Executive Dies In Walkers Point Shooting...

The Director of Compensation and Benefits for Miller Brewing was killed at about 1:10AM on Sunday morning after leaving a bar in Walkers Point.  He was accosted by a robber, gave the person his wallet and was then shot to death as he sat in his auto.

The concern immediately arose over whether Milwaukee would suffer as the result of this in the process that is now ongoing as to where the headquarters of the new combined Miller Coors will be located.  It is reported that crime and homicide rates rank first in the equation that most corporations use to determine quality of life rankings.  The Journal Sentinel reported this morning, and I paraphrase, that Milwaukee is 2.3% larger in population than Denver, has 228% more violent crime including 263% more homicides.  This is extrapolated from the FBI's statistics for the first half of 2007 that were recently released.

Would you think about that if you were making the decision?  Would you add in the fact that MPS is graduating 50% or fewer of all students that start as freshmen?

How in the world can one combine freedom and light bulbs in the same context?  Well, let's see.

We are being told that incandescent light bulbs are being eliminated in favor of a nationwide conversion to the use of compact fluorescent lamps.  Those are, so far, considerably more expensive to produce (although subsidized by tax money to make them seem less expensive), are not capable of generating the kind of lumens to which we're accustomed, the color of light is different from what we're used to seeing and they have no where near the flexibility we find with incandescent bulbs.

As if this weren't sufficient, the idea of using compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) laden with mercury is a bit disconcerting to me.  I have quite a few fluorescent tubes and a couple of CFLs that I need to toss out.  I called the Village of Germantown staff to learn about proper disposal.  The nice lady who answered on the solid waste disposal line said, "That's a problem."  As we talked about this further, I learned that the next dangerous waste disposal date is set for September, 2008 in West Bend.  Our recycling center is either unable or unwilling to accept such things.

I sought an alternative that would be available sooner.  There is a site in Port Washington equipped to take these items but they charge for the privilege of recycling such things.  I think you and I both know that these things are regularly finding their way into our landfill sites, and that will increase at quite a rate as more people are forced to begin their use.  We are creating a serious mercury problem for ourselves that will manifest some years down the road.  Our land, wetlands and streams, rivers and lakes will be more polluted than they are today.

All this got me thinking about where we've come from, why we're where we are, and just what it all means.  I'm not at all sure that I have everything figured out, but maybe you can help me work through the parts I don't seem to understand.

We are using more carbon-based energy than many think we ought, but we also ignore solutions that we've mastered many years ago.  Nuclear energy is safe and efficient and yet we've not built new reactors in years.  We have oil fields available on our turf but we're forbidden by our own government from drilling into that apparently sacred soil.  There is more oil available today but we can't refine it any faster than we are today even if we had access to a greater supply.  Why?  Because the government has caused the establishment of new refining facilities to be so cumbersome and expensive that it simply is not cost-effective for investors to plow money into that use.

The grand movement by those who think we need to be 'green' has caused our 'political' will to be turned against the will of the majority of citizens.  The 'green' people are outnumbered by the 'non-green' people; yet, our main stream press and politicos continue to thump the drum for being 'green'.  Lobbyists spend a lot of money to keep this political engine humming along.  Government has the best of both worlds in this situation.  It is getting money from both sides of the argument, so why not keep the argument alive by dithering.

The 'global warming' group adds fuel to these flames.  It seems that virtually everything causes global warming.  It also seems that global warming causes virtually everything.  I could easily understand hot weather being a direct function of global warming.  I have a little more difficulty believing that cold weather is also caused by global warming.  Until very recently, any debate has been squelched; that is now changing and, I hope, we'll begin to see the real debate taking place.  I cannot buy the suppositions of Al Gore's slide show.  I can buy the opinions, however, of a very well educated state representative by the name of Jim Ott (a professional meteorologist), who actually knows of which he speaks.  An interesting phenomenon from a politician, I agree.

I harangue on the subject of the 'slippery slope' more than many would like, but there are simply so many examples that I cannot help myself!  Then, to add fuel to that flame, I came across a statement in the Wall Street Journal letters section on Friday made by a fellow whose name is Constantine E. Anagnostopoulos from Bloomfield, MI.  To paraphrase, he stated that we began as a country in which everything was permitted except for those few things that had been forbidden such as killing another person without provocation.  Today, we are a country where many things are forbidden and fewer and fewer things seem to be allowed. 

We have myriad laws on the books, and yet we continue to enact new laws every month that a government unit is in session.  There is nearly nothing that needs to be outlawed that hasn't had multiple laws forbidding it already enacted.  (An example is the creation of a law against use of cell phones when there is a perfectly good law against inattentive driving already on the books.)  We have become such a nation of laws and litigation that we actually stifle our creativity, our economy and our lives.  It is impossible for anyone today to account for every law that impacts a certain activity.  We even feel the need to have judges 'creating' laws that don't exist through their interpretations of existing language, or by opining as to what the original authors intended as the 'living' documents were penned.  Our laws are more designed to affect behaviors to which the ruling class does not subscribe than to actually outlaw something needing to be outlawed.  Laws today are much more the tool of social reformers than of policing agencies. 

These are all harbingers for our future existence.  If we continue on the path we're on, at the pace we're traveling, we'll have managed to destroy the freedoms generations before have fought and died for in a few short lifetimes.  Maybe the loss of great democracies, as history recounts, is our self-fulfilling prophecy.

All this began with a diatribe on light bulbs.  Wow!