by folkbumMany moons ago, I mentioned here that Erin Richards of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was working on a series about parent involvement in schools. It is running this week, finally, and it is good. (It seems I have a cameo in today's story.)Yesterday's story, the first, has some sobering [...]
by folkbumNumber five on the list of top Republican distortions, anyway.Although I would argue he should also be number three, since he was caught using that fake statistic just two weeks ago. [...]
by folkbumPeople want comment? Sure. In the form of a deep thought:Deep ThoughtApparently climate-change deniers who have hacked access to fifteen years' worth of scientists' emails can't find a smoking gun more powerful than one scientist admitting that he substituted actual thermometer readings in place of proxy measures for temperature' [...]
by folkbumIf there is any flaw in the Classic Slice business model, it's that the slices are so big that the crust is cold by the time you get to it. Still, thankful for that. [...]
--George W. Bush, June 16, 2003"We did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush's term."--Dana Perino, former Bush spokeswoman, November 24, 2009 [...]
by folkbumThere's an ugly internet rumor going around that Sarah Palin's poll numbers are as good as Barack Obama's. It's not true. (Graphs below are as of 11/24; click on them to be magically transported to pollster for current data.)(And for kicks, you can play with the graphs to remove' [...]
by folkbumA moth or so ago--at the current pace of things, it may as well have been last century--then-current (now former) White House Communications Director Anita Dunn was flogged across the wingnutoverse because, in a speech that included quotes from the likes of Mother Teresa, she quoted a line from [...]
By 3rd WayThe genius of the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee's decision to exclude the Islamic members of their group on a trip to the Mideast made me think of the lyrics to Regina Spektor's* "Laughing With".No one laughs at God in a hospitalNo one laughs at God in a' [...]
by folkbumThey've started the campaign, it seems.UPDATED to add, to the naysayers who think I would not be qualified: I believe that I am because I have common sense, and I have, I believe, the values that are reflective of so many other Wisconsin values. And I believe that what' [...]
by folkbumIf I'm an Outpost owner--and I am--can I ban this guy from the store?Alternately, going after the comments: I did a google search [on] organic vs. nonorganic and all the articles I read will tout organic farming methods, manure vs other fertilizer, non use of pesticides, some even claim' [...]
By Keith R. SchmitzThe terror trials are coming to New York City and there is a possibility that a prison in North Illinois (with the lusty urging of the locals) will take some of the Gitmo inmates. And like clockwork the exploitation begins.This morning Politico.com tells us that in predictable [...]
by folkbumDays, that is.Paninis, coffee, soup, CD-release fever (less contagious than swine flu, and without the runny nose), and two hours of quality original music. Starts at 7:30 Saturday, at St. Francis's best strip-mall coffee house. [...]
By Keith R. SchmitzHealth insurance companies.Some tip of the iceberg stories about small business' struggles with health insurance coverage from the AHIP protests in Chicago today.' [...]
by folkbumNot a lot of time this morning, but a quick comment about Grigsby-Coggs: It offers the mayor a strong hand in helping to set the direction for the Milwaukee Public Schools (some budget, superintendent-selection powers), but retains the democratically elected Board. It's a compromise position, really, between status quo [...]
by folkbumSteven Walters, writing today about moves by various politicos to take over or otherwise mangle the Milwaukee Public Schools:Hamlet's Act 3 "to be or not to be" soliloquy includes this lament: "Thus conscience does make cowards of us all..." [...]
By Keith R. SchmitzWhen the Bears lose, the fans are exquisite in their anguish. The Friday morning after the Bears lost to San Francisco thanks to QB Jay Culter gave up five interceptions the Sun Times ran a headline over a picture of Culter sitting dejectedly on the turf that [...]
or, maybe Soglin should file papers after allby folkbumAs noted here previously, Tom Barrett has spent much of the last few months--and any number of Democrats have on his behalf--dumping on Milwaukee by slandering and demanding control of the Milwaukee Public Schools.No candidate from Milwaukee can be elected governor, you [...]
by folkbumI generally like My State Senator, Tim Carpenter. But he, along with Sen. Lena Taylor and Rep. Pedro Colón, have an op-ed in the paper this morning defending their Milwaukee Public Schools takeover bill, and he's just wrong here.The title of the op-ed is a compound imperative, and both [...]
by folkbumOne of the things that the late Gerald Bracey did for years is produce his annual "Bracey Report," which is a look at the various education reform efforts over the course of the past year, good and bad, with a careful examination of the data.This year's report (.pdf), released [...]
by folkbumNot one of the local conservative bloggers who used unusually cold days in September to mock "global warming" has noted the recent unusually warm days in November. [...]
by bertHere is another transparent tactic used by on-air pundits of the right wing in order to mangle the truth and score points. I call it talk-radio taxidermy. What you do is after a story is dead and gone, you doctor up the corpse to represent some scene that never [...]
by folkbumI have always loved this song, but what makes the video for me is the Wayne's World quality production. The zoom in up the nostrils shot is archetypal, of course, but it doesn't really make anyone attractive.' [...]
By Keith R. SchmitzLooking for light for what for them are the darkest of places, the right has been chaffing over the notion that their Stalinization program in the GOP led to a loss of the 23rd district for the Republican Party for the first time in over 100 years, [...]
by folkbumMost disappointing, I think, in Maine, where once again the reactionary forces of bigotry turned out in greater numbers than the forces of goodness and light, and repealed the state's same-sex marriage law. The civil rights efforts of this generation have been dealt another severe setback. (At the same [...]
by folkbum... my Comedy Sportz show or the County budget hearing. I suppose the budget thing was more sadly tragicomic, eh?Special shout-out to the Audubon contingent who came out to the show. Good to see you all again!Also: Regular blogging should resume again after my in-laws leave this weekend. Busybusybusy. [...]
by folkbumLook, I know that you want nothing more than to laugh at me. Hell, many of you are probably doing that very thing right now from the convenience of your own home. However, if you would rather do it in person, for free, you can, Monday night. Come on [...]
by bertI get the overall point from the writer in today's New York Times about how jarring are the regional differences in Iraq versus those between two Midwestern states:The invisible line that separates Iraqi Kurdistan from Iraq’s lowerprovinces should be little different than crossing from, say, Michigan into Illinois. . [...]
