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Carp Barrier Electric Current Turned Down

October 20, 2011 by The Political E...

Original Author: 
(James Rowen)
Interference with railroad signals is the culprit.

Bad news for the effort to keep this super-predator out of the Great Lakes.

Evidence that without a physical separation of the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds, the carp are going make the jump.

There's A Lemon Law For Politicians; We Have A Recall For That

October 20, 2011 by The Political E...

Original Author: 
(James Rowen)
I can remember the day our whole family headed for a dealership on E. Washington Ave. below the Madison Capitol Square and piled into our new car - - a 1975 Plymouth Valiant, clone of the Consumers' Report highly-rated Dodge Dart.

Ours was two-toned - - a white vinyl top over a gold lower body - - in what  

Oh, brother:

We drove it off the lot, and it stalled. It was always in the shop in search of a fix that could not be found.

This was before the days of lemon laws, so we were stuck with it.

Republicans Should Abstain From Undoing State's Sex Ed Curriculum

October 20, 2011 by The Political E...

Original Author: 
(James Rowen)
Especially during a special legislative session on job-creation.

Where Hortgage-Related Fraud Is Found, Justice Is Not Equal

October 20, 2011 by The Political E...

Original Author: 
(James Rowen)
The feds are bringing criminal charges against some alleged local mortgage fraud perpetrators. The charges are serious and it looks like jail or prison time is coming.

So be it. Anyone who had a hand in this national economic scandal should face criminal charges.

But where we have already had banks too big to fail, we've got some bankers who apparently are too big to jail.

The feds are alleging a massive mortgage-securities related scheme perpetrated by Citigroup by letting the Wall Street giant  settle and buy its way out through a civil complaint process...though Citigroup continues to report billions of dollars in profits that dwarf the amount of the proposed settlement...after having received the largest taxpayer-paid bailout to survive the crash it helped bring on by creating and selling and profiting from shady, toxic mortgage securities and manipulations.

A State That Is Open For Business Can't Have Its Public Business Troubled By Open Records

October 20, 2011 by The Political E...

Original Author: 
(James Rowen)
How else to interpret the State Public [sic] Service Commission's decision to put documents into confidential status - -  by default?

EPA Orders End To Sewer Pollution - - In Brookfield

October 19, 2011 by The Political E...

Original Author: 
(James Rowen)
Seems there's trouble in the brooks and fields near Brookfield.

Are we going to hear talk radio dump all over the tony Waukesha County suburban City of Brookfield, as it regularly does when Milwaukee is involved, now that the EPA is giving Brookfield  a 2015 deadline to end sewage overflows?
In the seven years between Jan. 1, 2004, and Feb. 28, 2011, Brookfield reported 46 sanitary sewer overflows to tributaries of the Fox River or Lake Michigan, according to the consent order. Only five of the overflows were caused by contractor error or other problems not related to rainfall.

Wisconsin PSC Opts For Document Secrecy. Why?

October 19, 2011 by The Political E...

Original Author: 
(James Rowen)
This decision by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission certainly raises a lot of questions about open government, public access to records and the free flow of information:
NOTICE TO ALL WISCONSIN PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION ELECTRONIC REGULATORY FILING USERS

Effective immediately, the Wisconsin Public Service Commission is changing the handling of confidential filings.  As you may recall, past practice was to have confidential status expire automatically after 4 years unless a party requests an extension of that status.  Because the retention for the vast majority of our documents is greater than 4 years, this resulted in numerous and repeated requests for extensions of confidential status.  This was becoming burdensome and inefficient.  To reduce waste, improve efficiency, and to better align the Commission’s practice on the handling of confidential materials with the Commission’s document retention practices, the Commission has decided to abolish the 4 year automatic expiration period.  Instead, please be advised that Commission practice, until further notice, is to maintain the confidential status of the document throughout the life cycle of the document.

Fresh Cuts To State, UW Reminiscent Of Walker's Sham County Budgets

October 19, 2011 by The Political E...

Original Author: 
(James Rowen)
Suddenly, Wisconsin state officials discover there is a need for major state agency budget cuts, especially at the UW, even though the current state budget is just a few months old.

Milwaukee County residents and courthouse observers will recognize this "oops" budgeting.

As a former county supervisor Jim McGuigan wrote in 2004:

Scott Walker Has Easy-Pass To Road-Builders Money

October 19, 2011 by The Political E...

Original Author: 
(James Rowen)
In a post earlier Wednesday about the politics of road-building in SE Wisconsin - - expansion in the face of continuing cuts to transit and purported fiscal shortfalls - -   I made this observation:
The threats to transit are taking place while billions in new highway construction roar forward unrestrained.

Walker fast-tracked the Zoo Interchange project (in a slightly reduced footprint, but still at an unaffordable cost of at least $1.7 billion) to appease the road-builders and Walker's base constituency in Waukesha County.

But these days, cars are running more efficiently, and the depressed economy has eliminated some driving, leaving road budgets planned without restraints short of money because most of the needed revenue to build them comes from gasoline taxes.

So is the highway budget taking the sort of cut you'd expect in our broke state?

Are you kidding?

Hearing On Medicaid Cuts Begins At 1 P.M.Wednesday In Madison

October 19, 2011 by The Political E...

Original Author: 
(James Rowen)
Here is the schedule for the meeting, and for another in Milwaukee later this month, so turn out on behalf of the 99%:
The Department of Health Services (DHS) will hold a Town Hall Meeting in Madison on Wednesday from 1-7 p.m. to hear from the public on its 39 proposals to save funding in Medicaid programs. DHS Secretary Dennis Smith and Deputy Secretary Kitty Rhoades will be present at the meeting.

The Town Hall Meeting will be held:

Wednesday, October 19, 2011
1:00 P.M. – 7:00 P.M
Goodman Community Center
Evjue Community Room D
149 Waubesa Street
Madison, WI 53704

DHS is also holding a Town Hall Meeting in Milwaukee from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday, October 21.



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